The platypus is described to be a combination of ducks,otters,and beavers.

                A word that I thought was going to be a fun word to choose is platypus. After googling to find the origin of the word and how it was formed I came upon some background. A scientist by the name of George Shaw was the first to examine this animal which he believed had parts or other animals. After assigning the animal a couple of scientific names it later became known as the platypus. George Shaw first assigned the name Platypus antinus but then realized that the name “platypus” was already given to a group of beetles and then came up with the scientific name Ornithorhynchus anatinus. Somewhere along the way “platypus” became the animal’s official name. Platypus is a borrowed word from Greece which in Greek would be a compound since it’s a word formed from two other words which are “flat” and “footed”. Platypus are also referred to as “duckbill” which happens to be a compound of the words “duck” and “bill” which describes one of the animal’s features. I chose “platypus” to research mostly because it’s a funny word/name to me and I have never really thought about how the word came about.It’s actually interesting how so much thought went into finding the right name for such a funny looking animal.