The term "dinosaur" was given in 1842 by Sir Richard Owen and derives from Greek word (deinos) "terrible, powerful, wondrous" (sauros) = "lizard". = Terrible, powerful, wondrous lizard.
It was Sir Richard Owen who found some of the first dinosaur fossils. They were teeth.
They were pretty big too. He studied many types of animals and was pretty sure that these teeth did not belong to any living animal today. He did however think it was similar to a lizards tooth. So he named the dinosaurs. This discovery caused many others to be curious and they to began looking for dinosaurs.
Did you know that dinosaurs are mentioned in the Bible. They aren't called dinosaurs but the behemoth and the leviathan. Its in the book of Job chapters 40 verse 15 - 24 and chapter 41 verses 1 - 10. Some version say they are an elephant or an alligator but if you remember the elephant's tail it is very small not like the tail of a cedar that the King James Bible says it is like. Then in verse 19 of chapter 41 it says the leviathan spits fire from its mouth, I know that alligators can't do that. Just thought you would like to know.