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Cerato- is a combining form used like a prefix meaning “horn” or “cornea.” The cornea is the transparent front part of the eyeball. It is used in some scientific and medical terms, including in ophthalmology and dermatology.

Cerato- comes from the Greek ��é������, meaning “horn.” The Latin cousin to ��é������ is ���ǰ���ū, source of corneus, literally “horn-y.” The term cornea comes from the Latin phrase cornea tēla, meaning “horn-y web,” i.e., “hornlike tissue.”

Another word related to this Greek root is karat, or carat, which is a unit of weight for gemstones. It ultimately comes from the Greek word for “little horn.”

What are variants of cerato-?

When combined with words or word elements that begin with a vowel, cerato- becomes cerat-, as in ceratopsian, which uses the equivalent combining form of cerato- in New Latin.

Cerato- and cerat- can also be spelled with an initial k-, becoming kerat- or kerato-, as in keratoid or ceratoid. Note that variants spelled with c- are pronounced with a soft c sound, e.g., [ ser–uh-toid ]. Learn more at our 51�Թ�s That Use articles for the forms.

The ceratosaur was a carnivorous, swift-running North American theropod dinosaur of the Jurassic Period. It had a large skull with a short horn between the nostrils and a bony knob in front of each eye.

As we now know, cerato- means “horn.” What about the –saur part of the word? It is used to name dinosaurs, from the Greek ����û���Dz� meaning “lizard.” Ceratosaur literally translates to “horned lizard.”

Ceratosaur comes from New Latin and uses the equivalent form of cerato- in the language.

What are some words that use the combining form cerato-?

• ceratocricoid muscle
• ceratocele
• ceratophyte
• ceratophyllous
• ceratoplasty
• ceratostome

What are some other forms that cerato- may be commonly confused with?

• -crat
• cero-
• cer-

Not all words beginning with the letters cerat- are using the combining form cerato- to mean “horn” or “cornea.” One example is cerate. Find out how cerate is connected to wax at our entry for the word.

The combining form -phyte means “plant.” A ceratophyte is a type of coral polyp. What does its name literally translate to?