ichneumon

From Latin ichneumon, from Ancient Greek ἰχνεύμων (ikhneúmōn, “tracker”)’, from ἴχνος (íkhnos, “track, footstep”).

• IPA^(key): /ɪkˈnjuːmən/

ichneumon (plural ichneumons)

1. The Egyptian mongoose, Herpestes ichneumon, found in Africa and southern Europe.
   • 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in The Essayes, […], book II, printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:

     when the Ichneumon is to grapple with the Crocodile, he walloweth his body in the mire, then lets the same drie and harden upon him […].

2. The ichneumon wasp.
   • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin 2011, p. 43:

     Ada's unique Lorelei Underwing had died, paralyzed by some ichneumon that had not been deceived by those clever prominences and fungoid smudges.

• ichnology
• ichnogram
• ichneumia