civet

See also: civět

English

African civet Civettictis civetta

Etymology

From French civette, from Italian zibetto, from Medieval Latin zibethum, from Arabic زَبَاد (zabād).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪ.vɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪvɪt

Noun

civet (countable and uncountable, plural civets)

1. (countable) A carnivorous catlike animal, Civettictis civetta, that produces a musky secretion. It is two to three feet (30–90 cm) long, with black bands and spots on the body and tail.

   Synonym: civet cat

2. (uncountable) The musky perfume produced by the animal.
   • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     LEONATO. Indeed he looks younger than he did, by the loss of a beard.
     DON PEDRO. Nay, a' rubs himself with civet: can you smell him out by that?
     CLAUDIO. That's as much as to say the sweet youth's in love.

   • 1607, [attributed to Thomas Tomkis], Lingva: Or The Combat of the Tongue, and the Five Senses for Superiority. A Pleasant Comœdie., London: Printed by G[eorge] Eld, for Simon Waterson, →OCLC, act IV, scene iii:

     Your onely way to make a good pomander, is this. Take an ownce of the pureſt garden mould, clenſed and ſteeped ſeauen daies in change of motherleſſe roſe water, then take the beſt Labdanum, Benioine, both Storaxes, amber greece, and Ciuet, and muſke, incorporate them together, and work them into what form you pleaſe; this, if your breath bee not to valiant, will make you ſmell as ſweete as my Ladies dogge.

   • 2023 May 6, Simon Schama, “Magic and Modernity”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 1:

     […] even if modest gestures of modernisation have slimmed down the ceremony, the chrism of unction is no longer perfumed with animal effluents—ambergris, musk and civet—and Andrew Lloyd Webber added to Handel and Elgar?

3. Any animal in the family Viverridae or the similar family Nandiniidae
4. (countable, US) Any of several species of spotted skunk, in the genus Spilogale.

Derived terms

• civet coffee
• civeted
• civetlike
• civetone
• Malagasy civet
• otter civet
• palm civet
• tiger civet

 

Translations

cat-like animal

• Afrikaans: siwet, siwetkat
• Arabic: زَبَاد m (zabād)
• Assamese: জহামলা (zôhamola), জহামাল (zôhamal)
• Bau Bidayuh: musang
• Bulgarian: цибет m (cibet)
• Catalan: civeta (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 麝貓／麝猫 (zh) (shèmāo), 麝香貓／麝香猫 (zh) (shèxiāngmāo), 靈貓／灵猫 (zh) (língmāo)

• Czech: cibetka (cs) f
• Djimini: cɛnpige
• Dutch: civetkat (nl) f
• Esperanto: zibeto
• Estonian: tsiibet
• Finnish: sivettikissa (fi), sivetti (fi)
• French: civette (fr) f
• Georgian: აფრიკული ვივერა (apriḳuli vivera), ციბეტა (cibeṭa), ციბეტინი (cibeṭini)
• German: Zibetkatze f
• Greek: μοσχογαλή η κιβέττη f (moschogalí i kivétti)
• Gujarati: જબાદી બિલાડી (jabādī bilāḍī)
• Hindi: मुश्क बिलाई m (muśk bilāī), मुश्कबिलाव m (muśkabilāv), गंधबिलाव (hi) m (gandhbilāv), गन्धमार्जार (hi) m (gandhamārjār), जुबाद (hi) m (jubād), कस्तूरी बिलाव m (kastūrī bilāv)
• Hungarian: cibetmacska (hu)
• Indonesian: musang (id)
• Iraqw: qaynai
• Italian: zibetto (it) m
• Japanese: 麝香猫 (ja) (じゃこうねこ, jakōneko), 霊猫 (ja) (れいびょう, reibyō)
• Javanese: rasé
• Kannada: ಪುನುಗು ಬೆಕ್ಕು (punugu bekku)
• Karang: bayti̧w
• Khmer: សំពោច (km) (sɑmpouc)
• Kimaragang: kaka'a
• Korean: 사향고양이 (sahyanggoyang'i)
• Lithuanian: civeta f
• Malagasy: alazy (mg)
• Malay: musang (ms), luak (ms)
• Njyem: jwɔb
• Nkonya: tsamboyi
• Oromo: tirenye
• Persian: گربه زباد (gorbe-ye zabâd), زباد (fa) (zabâd)
• Polish: cyweta f
• Portuguese: civeta (pt) f, gato-de-algália (pt) m
• Romanian: zibetă (ro) f
• Russian: виве́рра (ru) f (vivérra), циве́тта (ru) f (civétta)
• Sanskrit: गन्धमार्जार (sa) m (gandhamārjāra)
• Sebop: pugah
• Spanish: civeta f
• Swahili: ngawa
• Tagal Murut: binangki', munin
• Tagalog: alamid (tl)
• Telugu: పునుగుపిల్లి (te) (punugupilli)
• Thai: ชะมด (th) (chá-mót)
• Turkish: misk kedisi (literally “musk cat”)
• Vietnamese: cầy (vi)
• West Coast Bajau: puju
• Yoruba: ẹtà

perfume

• Assamese: জহামলা (zôhamola), জহামাল (zôhamal)
• Catalan: algàlia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 麝貓香／麝猫香 (shèmāoxiāng)

• Finnish: sivetti (fi)
• German: Zibet m
• Greek: μόσχος (el) m (móschos)
• Hindi: जुबाद (hi) m (jubād)
• Javanese: dhèdhès (jv)
• Kannada: ಪುನುಗು (kn) (punugu)
• Persian: زباد (fa) (zabâd), غالیه (fa) (ğâliye)
• Polish: cywet m
• Portuguese: algália (pt) f
• Russian: цибети́н (ru) m (cibetín)
• Spanish: almizcle (es) m
• Sundanese: jebad
• Swahili: zabadi (sw)
• Swedish: sibet c, sibetolja c

Anagrams

• evict

Dalmatian

Etymology

Compare Italian civetta, Romansch tschuetta, French chouette.

Noun

civet m

1. owl
2. burrowing owl

French

Etymology

From cive +‎ -et.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /si.vɛ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

civet m (plural civets)

1. (cooking) ragout (“stew”) of hare, rabbit or wild mammal, with red wine and onions, bound with the animal’s blood

Further reading

• “civet”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.