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How did Richard Owen choose the name Dinosauria?

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Illustration showing various dinosaur species drawn to scale and grouped by geologic era: Late Cretaceous, Early Cretaceous, Jurassic, and Triassic. Dinosaurs range from large species like Brachiosaurus and Tyrannosaurus to smaller ones like Velociraptor and Compsognathus, with a human silhouette included for size comparison. Measurement bars at the bottom indicate 1 meter and 3 feet for scale reference. — dinosaur A selection of dinosaurs grouped by the geologic interval in which they lived.

British biologist and paleontologist Richard Owen introduced the name Dinosauria in 1842 to classify a distinct tribe or suborder of fossilized reptiles.12

After studying various fragmentary remains—specifically Iguanodon, Megalosaurus, and Hylaeosaurus—Owen recognized that these creatures were far larger than any living reptiles and possessed unique anatomical features, such as fused sacral vertebrae, that set them apart from other known groups.12

He derived the name from the Greek words deinōs (meaning "fearfully great") and sauros (meaning "lizard"). Contrary to the common modern interpretation of "terrible lizard," Owen intended the term to reflect the awe-inspiring, massive scale of these extinct animals.1