The taxon 'Dinosauria' was

formally named in 1842

by paleontologist Sir Richard
Owen, who used it to refer to
the "distinct tribe or sub-
order of Saurian Reptiles"
that were then being
recognized in England and
around the world.[1][2] The term
is derived from Ancient
Greek δεινός (deinos),
meaning 'terrible, potent or
fearfully great',
and σαῦρος (sauros),
meaning 'lizard or reptile'.[1]
  Though the taxonomic
[3]

name has often been

interpreted as a reference to
dinosaurs' teeth, claws, and
other fearsome
characteristics, Owen
intended it merely to evoke
their size and majesty.[4]
Other prehistoric animals,
including pterosaurs, mosas
aurs, ichthyosaurs, plesiosau
rs, and Dimetrodon, while
often popularly conceived of
as dinosaurs, are not
taxonomically classified as
dinosaurs.[5] Pterosaurs are
distantly related to
dinosaurs, being members of
the clade Ornithodira. The
other groups mentioned are,
like dinosaurs and
pterosaurs, members
of Sauropsida (the reptile
and bird clade),
except Dimetrodon (which is
a synapsid).