stegosaurus n.

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to cover," especially with a roof. It forms all or part of: deck (n.) "covering over part of a ship;" deck (v.) "adorn;" deckle; detect; integument; protect; protection; stegosaurus; tegular; tegument; thatch; thug; tile; Tuileries.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit sthag- "cover, conceal, hide;" Greek stegein "to cover," stegos "a roof;" Latin tegere "to cover," tegula "tile;" Lithuanian stėgti "to roof;" Old Norse þekja, Old English þeccan "thatch;" Dutch dekken, German decken "to cover, put under roof;" Irish tuigiur "cover," tech "house;" Welsh toi "thatch, roof," ty "house."

element used in forming dinosaur names, from Latinized form of Greek sauros "lizard," a word of unknown origin; possibly related to saulos "twisting, wavering."