In the genus name Aenocyon, the Greek element cyon means “dog.”
Aenocyon combines the Greek words ainos, meaning “terrible” or “dreadful,” and kuon, transliterated as cyon, meaning “dog.” The name was created for the dire wolf, Aenocyon dirus, an extinct canid that lived in North and South America during the Pleistocene and early Holocene.
The word does not specifically mean “wolf,” even though the animal was wolf-like and belonged to the canid family. “Terrible” is also a tempting choice because ainos contributes that meaning to Aenocyon, while dirus is a Latin word meaning “fearsome” or “terrible.” Thus, the full scientific name evokes a “terrible dog.”
The element cyon appears in other scientific names for dog-like mammals. It is related to the Greek root seen in words such as cynology, the study of dogs, and canine terminology. The dire wolf was once placed in Canis, but many modern classifications recognize Aenocyon as a separate genus.