[rahy-nos-er-uh
s] 
) -os. | 1. | any of several large, thick-skinned, perissodactyl mammals of the family Rhinocerotidae, of Africa and India, having one or two upright horns on the snout: all rhinoceroses are endangered. |
| 2. | Douay Bible. unicorn (def. 4). |
| rhi·noc·er·os (rī-nŏs'ər-əs) n. pl. rhinoceros or rhi·noc·er·os·es Any of several large, thick-skinned, herbivorous mammals of the family Rhinocerotidae, of Africa and Asia, having one or two upright horns on the snout. [Middle English rinoceros, from Latin rhīnocerōs, from Greek rhīnokerōs : rhīno-, rhino- + keras, horn; see ker-1 in Indo-European roots.] |
"What is the plural of rhinoceros? ... Well, Liddell and Scott seem to authorize 'rhinocerotes,' which is pedantic, but 'rhinoceroses' is not euphonious." [Sir Charles Eliot, "The East Africa Protectorate," 1905]
