meerkat

English

Etymology

From Afrikaans meerkat, transferred use of Dutch meerkat (“guenon [monkey]”, literally “lake cat”), compare English mercat. Sometimes suggested to be influenced by or derived from an Indian source; compare Hindi मर्कट (markaṭ, “ape, monkey”) and Sanskrit मर्कट (markaṭa).[1]

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈmɪəkat/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈmɪəɹkæt/

Noun

meerkat (plural meerkats)

  1. Suricata suricatta, a small carnivorous mammal of the mongoose family, from the Kalahari Desert, known for its habit of standing on its hind legs.
    Synonym: suricate

Translations

Further reading

References
  1. “meerkat” (US) / “meerkat” (UK) in Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press.

Anagrams

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch meerkat (“guenon”).

Noun

meerkat (plural meerkatte or meerkaaie)

  1. meerkat

Dutch
guenon (C. mitis)

Etymology

From Middle Dutch meercatte (“monkey, ape”), from Old Dutch *merikatta. Cognate with merikazza (German Meerkatze).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈmeːrˌkɑt/, [ˈmɪːrˌkɑt]
  • Audio(file)
  • Hyphenation: meer‧kat

Noun

meerkat f (plural meerkatten, diminutive meerkatje n)

  1. guenon (one of a number of monkeys of the genus Cercopithecus)
    • Bas Vlugt, Namibië, Botswana en Zimbabwe, 2013.
      De groene meerkat of velvet monkey (Cercopithecus aethiops) is de meest voorkomende aap in zuidelijk Afrika.

Descendants
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.