reptile

Word family

Related topics: Animals

ldoce_283_erep·tile /ˈreptaɪl $ ˈreptl/ noun [countableC]

1. HBAa type of animal, such as a snake or lizard, whose body temperature changes according to the temperature around it, and that usually lays eggs to have babies 爬行动物 →5 See picture of alligator 短吻鳄, iguana 鬣蜥, lizard 蜥蜴 ... →4 See picture of 见图 reptile

2. informalBAD PERSON someone who is unpleasant or cannot be trusted 可鄙的人；不可信赖的人

—reptilian /repˈtɪliən/ adjectiveadj

Examples from the Corpus

reptile• Both amphibians and reptiles are paralyzed by cold, and are therefore confined to the temperate zones and tropics.• Under the microscope even the bone structure of these dinosaurs looks more like that of living mammals than cold-blooded reptiles.• Similarly, the huge reptiles which dominated the land, sea, and even the air of the Cretaceous are all gone.• Hunting reptiles is nothing new to John Weber.• In turn the later reptiles could diversify on land when they could lay eggs away from a watery environment.• The third is an immune system, used only by the descendants of reptiles.• Eventually, they were eclipsed by the reptiles and much reduced in numbers.

Origin reptile

(1300-1400) Old French Late Latin reptilis “creeping”, from Latin repere “to creep”

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus

TOEFL IELTS BNC: 10544 COCA: 10530

reptile

General animal types: adult, amphibian, animal...