pterodactyl
noun
ptero·dac·tyl ˌter-ə-ˈdak-tᵊl 
: any of various pterosaurs (suborder Pterodactyloidea) of the Late Jurassic and Cretaceous having a rudimentary tail and a beak with reduced dentition
broadly : pterosaur
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web This time, the dinosaurs are angrier, more destructive (a pterodactyl attacks a plane!), and bigger. 
Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 10 Feb. 2022 Fur and skin, unless in an exaggerated circumstance (like flying on the back of a pterodactyl), fail to show movement and tangible texture. Courtney Howard, Variety, 28 Jan. 2022 An unrealized Jim Henson film in which the titular character, a fluffy pterodactyl, vanquishes a gremlin based on Lee Atwater. David Kamp, The New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2021 His antic ads for the Little Caesars pizza chain included one in which a pizza box turns into a pterodactyl. James R. Hagerty, WSJ, 30 Sep. 2021 But the hotel shut its doors for good a few years ago, a hulking edifice that some liken to a rearing pterodactyl but that others just call a fire trap. BostonGlobe.com, 30 July 2021 Paragon also wrote many of the show’s episodes and voiced Pterri, the talking pterodactyl. Los Angeles Times, 18 June 2021 The bird was gazing at her with its single eye on the side of its flat head—a pterodactyl’s cold indifferent Mesozoic eye. Cynthia Ozick, The New Yorker, 14 June 2021 The Shadow Fold, also known as the Unsea, is a region of nearly impenetrable darkness that contains pterodactyl-like monsters that eat human flesh called colcra. Quinci Legardye, Marie Claire, 29 Apr. 2021 See More
Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 10 Feb. 2022 Fur and skin, unless in an exaggerated circumstance (like flying on the back of a pterodactyl), fail to show movement and tangible texture. Courtney Howard, Variety, 28 Jan. 2022 An unrealized Jim Henson film in which the titular character, a fluffy pterodactyl, vanquishes a gremlin based on Lee Atwater. David Kamp, The New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2021 His antic ads for the Little Caesars pizza chain included one in which a pizza box turns into a pterodactyl. James R. Hagerty, WSJ, 30 Sep. 2021 But the hotel shut its doors for good a few years ago, a hulking edifice that some liken to a rearing pterodactyl but that others just call a fire trap. BostonGlobe.com, 30 July 2021 Paragon also wrote many of the show’s episodes and voiced Pterri, the talking pterodactyl. Los Angeles Times, 18 June 2021 The bird was gazing at her with its single eye on the side of its flat head—a pterodactyl’s cold indifferent Mesozoic eye. Cynthia Ozick, The New Yorker, 14 June 2021 The Shadow Fold, also known as the Unsea, is a region of nearly impenetrable darkness that contains pterodactyl-like monsters that eat human flesh called colcra. Quinci Legardye, Marie Claire, 29 Apr. 2021 See More Word History
Etymology
New Latin Pterodactylus, genus of reptiles, from Greek pteron wing + daktylos finger — more at feather
First Known Use
1829, in the meaning defined above
Kids Definition
pterodactyl
noun
ptero·dac·tyl ˌter-ə-ˈdak-tᵊl
: a very large extinct flying reptile that lived at the same time as the dinosaurs