A crocodile is a large, powerful reptile with a long snout, sharp teeth, and a strong tail, that lives mostly in rivers and swamps. It is a dangerous predator that can move surprisingly fast in water.
From Greek *krokodilos*, originally used for a kind of lizard, possibly meaning “pebble worm” from *krokē* “pebble” and *drilos* “worm,” maybe describing how it looked on a riverbank. Latin and French passed similar forms into English.
The phrase ‘crocodile tears’ comes from an old myth that crocodiles cry to trick their victims, even though real crocodile tears are just a side effect of their eye glands. Their brains are small, but their behavior is finely tuned—almost like living fossils of ancient predators.
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