platypus: [18] The platypus’s name means literally ‘flat-footed’. It was given to it at the end of the 18th century, and is first recorded in George Shaw’s Naturalists’ Miscellany 1799. It was adapted from Greek platúpous, a compound formed from platús ‘flat’ (source of English place, plaice, and plane the tree) and poús ‘foot’ (a relative of English foot). => foot, place, plane, plate
platypus (n.)
Australian duck-mole, 1799, from Modern Latin, from Greek platypous, literally "flat-footed," from platys "broad, flat" (see plaice (n.)) + pous "foot," from PIE root *ped- (1) "a foot" (see foot (n.)).
Orig. the generic name, but, having already been given to a genus of beetles, it was in 1800 changed for Ornithorhyncus. [OED]
实用例句
1. One of the mascots was the platypus.
吉祥物一是鸭嘴兽.
来自《简明英汉词典》
2. At home both in water and on land, the platypus is amphibious.
鸭嘴兽的家可以在水中,也可以在陆上.它是两栖动物.
来自英语晨读30分（高一）
3. Not many people could describe a platypus because few have seen one.
很少有人能描述鸭嘴兽,因为几乎没有人见过它.
来自英语晨读30分（高一）
4. For this reason, scientists know less about the platypus than they would like to know.
因为这个原因, 科学家对它知之甚少.
来自英语晨读30分（高一）
5. Researchers just mapped the genome of a female platypus from Australia.