Hamster

See also: hamster, hámster, hàmster, and hâmster

German

Etymology

From Middle High German hamster, from Old High German hamastra, hamustro, probably from Old East Slavic хомѣсторъ (xoměstorŭ), хомѣстаръ (xoměstarŭ). Further explained as a borrowing into Slavic from Iranian, compare Avestan 𐬵𐬀𐬨𐬀𐬉𐬯𐬙𐬀𐬭- (hamaēstar-, “who throws down (in this case: corn stalks), oppresses”). Alternatively, a compound of (1) хомѣкъ (xoměkŭ, “hamster”), from Proto-Balto-Slavic *kāmjas and of (2) Baltic *staras, but this would require irregular compound formation (*хомѣкосторъ would be expected, unless perhaps the compound was based on a word whose diminutive was хомѣкъ) and an irregular Proto-Slavic *x from Proto-Balto-Slavic *k.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhamstɐ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Hamster m (strong, genitive Hamsters, plural Hamster)

1. hamster

Declension

Declension of Hamster [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Hamster	die	Hamster
genitive	eines	des	Hamsters	der	Hamster
dative	einem	dem	Hamster	den	Hamstern
accusative	einen	den	Hamster	die	Hamster

Derived terms

• Goldhamster
• hamstern

Descendants

• → Catalan: hàmster
• → English: hamster, hampster (obsolete)
  • → Japanese: ハムスター (hamusutā)
  • → Korean: 햄스터 (haemseuteo)
  • → Scottish Gaelic: hamstair
  • → Tagalog: hamster
  • → Thai: แฮมสเตอร์ (hɛms-dtə̂ə)
  • → Turkish: hamster
• → Danish: hamster
• → Dutch: hamster
  • → Papiamentu: hamster
• → French: hamster
• → Luxembourgish: Hamster
• → Norwegian Bokmål: hamster
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: hamster
• → Portuguese: hamster
• → Romanian: hamster
• → Swedish: hamster

Further reading

• “Hamster” in Duden online
• “Hamster” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From German Hamster.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhamsteʀ/, [ˈhɑmstɐ]

Noun

Hamster m (plural Hamsteren)

1. hamster