Greek krokodilos became Latin crocodilus. Medieval Latin cocodrillus moves the r; French carried a cocodrille form into Middle English. Modern crocodile reflects a later learned respelling.
French is an intermediary even though it has no separate card here. The popular deeper “pebble-worm” analysis is disputed and is not part of the scored answer.
Sources
- Merriam-Webster: crocodile
Word History supplies the selected Greek, Latin, Medieval Latin and Middle English forms and the French intermediary.
- Etymonline: crocodile
The main entry explains the modern respelling and records specialist objections to the deeper pebble/worm analysis.
- logeion.uchicago.edu · cocodrillus
Meanings of the older forms on the word path.
- logeion.uchicago.edu · crocodilus
Meanings of the older forms on the word path.
- University of Michigan historical dictionaries · MED8223
Meanings of the older forms on the word path.