means Lizards are scaly, cold-blooded reptiles with four legs, dry skin, and usually a long tail — a group that includes geckos, iguanas, skinks, and chameleons.

from From Middle English "lesarde," borrowed from Old French "lesarde," which traces back to Latin "lacertus." Curiously, that same Latin word also meant the muscle of the upper arm — perhaps because a flexing bicep, rippling under the skin, looked to Roman eyes like a little darting reptile. The word "alligator" is a distant cousin, coming from Spanish "el lagarto," "the lizard."