WordofTheDay.US

rex

/ˈɹɛks/ noun

Latin root: rēx Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about rex at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

  1. A king, particularly in ancient Rome.
  2. An animal which has a genetic recessive variation that causes the guard hairs to be very short or fully lacking.

verb

  1. To breed (an animal) to have this kind of hair.

Origin

From Latin rēx (“king”). Doublet of rajah and roy. Noun sense 2 originally referred to rabbits of the Belgian "castorrex" breed, so named because their fur was similar to that of beavers, and entered English around 1920.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)