hamster

See also: Hamster, hámster, hàmster, and hâmster

English

A dwarf hamster

Alternative forms

• hampster (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from German Hamster (see for etymology). Displaced earlier term German rat.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈhæm(p)stɚ/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Noun

hamster (plural hamsters)

1. Any of various Old-World rodent species belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae.
   1. especially of species Mesocricetus auratus (the golden hamster) and species of genus Phodopus (dwarf hamsters), often kept as a pet or used in scientific research.

      The hamster stuffed his puffy cheeks with food.

2. Other rodents of similar appearance, such as the maned hamster or crested hamster, Lophiomys imhausi, mouse-like hamsters of genus Calomyscus, and the white-tailed rat (Mystromys albicaudatus).

Synonyms

• (golden hamster): Syrian hamster

Derived terms

• Chinese hamster
• Chinese hamster ovary cell
• Djungarian hamster
• Dzungarian hamster
• hamster ball
• hamstering
• hamsterization
• hamsterless
• hamster style
• hamster wheel
• hamstery
• idea hamster
• rationalisation hamster
• rationalization hamster
• Russian winter white dwarf hamster
• Siberian dwarf hamster
• Siberian hamster
• winter white Russian hamster

 

Descendants

• → Japanese: ハムスター (hamusutā)
• → Korean: 햄스터 (haemseuteo)
• → Scottish Gaelic: hamstair
• → Tagalog: hamster
• → Thai: แฮมสเตอร์ (hɛms-dtə̂ə)
• → Turkish: hamster

Translations

rodent species belonging to the Cricetinae

• Afrikaans: hamster
• Albanian: lloj brejtësi
• Arabic: قَدَاد m (qadād), هَامِسْتَر m (hāmistar)

  Egyptian Arabic: هَامِسْتَر m (hamestar)

• Armenian: համստեր (hy) (hamster)
• Azerbaijani: dağsiçanı
• Bashkir: алйырҙан (alyırźan), ирлән (irlən)
• Basque: hamster (eu)
• Belarusian: хамя́к m (xamják)
• Breton: hamster
• Bulgarian: хомя́к (bg) m (homják), ха́мстер m (hámster)
• Burmese: ဟမ်းစတား (ham:ca.ta:)
• Catalan: hàmster (ca) m
• Chechen: оьпа (öpa)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 倉鼠／仓鼠 (zh) (cāngshǔ)

• Czech: křeček (cs) m
• Dalmatian: viala f
• Danish: hamster (da) c
• Dutch: hamster (nl) m
• Esperanto: hamstro
• Estonian: hamster (et)
• Faroese: hamstur m, hamstrari m
• Finnish: hamsteri (fi)
• French: hamster (fr) m, rat de blé m
• Friulian: cricęt
• Galician: hámster (gl)
• Georgian: ზაზუნა (ka) (zazuna)
• German: Hamster (de) m
• Greek: χάμστερ (el) n (chámster)
• Hebrew: אוֹגֵר (he) m (ogér)
• Hindi: हैम्स्टर m (haimsṭar)
• Hungarian: hörcsög (hu)
• Icelandic: hamstur (is) m
• Ido: hamstro (io)
• Interlingua: hamster
• Irish: hamstar
• Italian: criceto (it) m
• Japanese: ハムスター (ja) (hamusutā), 絹毛鼠 (きぬげねずみ, kinugenezumi), キヌゲネズミ (kinugenezumi)
• Karakalpak: balpaq tıshqan
• Kazakh: атжалман (atjalman)
• Korean: 햄스터 (ko) (haemseuteo), 뵤 (byo)
• Kumyk: авлакъ чычкъан (awlaq çıçqan)
• Kyrgyz: хомяк (homyak)
• Latvian: kāmis m
• Lithuanian: žiurkėnas m
• Macedonian: хрчак m (hrčak)
• Malay: tikus belanda
• Maltese: ħamster
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: арлан (arlan), комаголя (komagoĺa)

  Western Mari: ӓрлӓн (ärlän), ӓрлӓнгы (ärlängy)

• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: үхэр зусаг (üxer zusag), шишүүхэй (mn) (šišüüxej)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hamster (no) m

  Nynorsk: hamster m

• Occitan: amstèr
• Old East Slavic: хомѣкъ (xoměkŭ)
• Persian: همستر (hamestar), موش بزرگ (muš-e bozorg)
• Polish: chomik (pl) m

  Old Polish: krzeczek m, skrzeczek m

• Portuguese: hamster (pt) m
• Romanian: hamster (ro), hârciog (ro)
• Romansch: furmanter, raffun, raspun
• Russian: хомя́к (ru) m (xomják)
• Scottish Gaelic: hamstair m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: хр́чак m

  Roman: hŕčak (sh) m

• Slovak: škrečok (sk) m
• Slovene: hrček (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: zemcygaŕ m

  Upper Sorbian: žurk m

• Southern Altai: эрлен (erlen)
• Spanish: hámster (es) m
• Swedish: hamster (sv)
• Tagalog: hamster
• Tajik: миримӯшон (mirimüšon)
• Tatar: әрлән (tt) (ärlän)
• Thai: แฮมสเตอร์ (hɛms-dtə̂ə)
• Turkish: hamster (tr)
• Ukrainian: хом'я́к m (xomʺják)
• Uzbek: ogʻmaxon (uz)
• Volapük: kriset (vo)
• Welsh: bochdew
• West Frisian: hamster

See also

• gerbil
• guinea pig
• mouse
• rat

Verb

hamster (third-person singular simple present hamsters, present participle hamstering, simple past and past participle hamstered)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To secrete or store privately, as a hamster does with food in its cheek pouches.

   Synonym: stash

   • 1974, Phyllis Knight, Rolf Knight, A Very Ordinary Life, page 43:

     Probably the city government knew that without that hamstering half the city would starve and they somehow got the police to lay off. It was in the little stinky one-horse towns that you had all the trouble.

   • 2004, Sharon L. Pywell, What Happened to Henry, page 50:

     […] in his bedroom in neat stacks — he always hamstered them away upstairs as soon as the morning was done. This year the gifts sat ignored […]

   • 2014, Edith Sheffer, Burned Bridge: How East and West Germans Made the Iron Curtain:

     […] eastern children frequently “hamstered,” smuggled, and begged across the boundary, especially after currency reform […]

Translations

to stash like a hamster, to hoard

• Dutch: hamsteren (nl)
• German: hamstern (de)
• Luxembourgish: hamsteren
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hamstre (no)

  Nynorsk: hamstra

• Russian: хомячить (ru) (xomjačitʹ)
• Swedish: hamstra (sv)

Further reading

• hamster on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Golden hamster on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• hamster in Mammal Species of the World^[1] at Bucknell.

Anagrams

• Amherst, harmest

Danish

Etymology

From German Hamster.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈhɑmˀsd̥ɐ]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

hamster c (singular definite hamsteren, plural indefinite hamstere)

1. a hamster

Declension

Declension of hamster

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	hamster	hamsteren	hamstere	hamsterne
genitive	hamsters	hamsterens	hamsteres	hamsternes

References

• “hamster” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɦɑmstər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ham‧ster

Etymology 1

Borrowed from German Hamster.

Noun

hamster m (plural hamsters, diminutive hamstertje n)

1. hamster

Derived terms

• dwerghamster
• goudhamster
• hamsterbal
• hamsteren
• hamstermolen

Descendants

• → Papiamentu: hamster

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

hamster

1. inflection of hamsteren:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

French

Etymology

Borrowed from German Hamster and ultimately of Balto-Slavic origin.

Pronunciation

• ^{(aspirated h)} IPA^(key): /am.stɛʁ/

  • Audio (France):

    (file)

• (Quebec) IPA^(key): /am.stɚ/

  • Audio (Quebec):

    (file)

Noun

hamster m (plural hamsters)

1. hamster

Further reading

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

German

Verb

hamster

1. singular imperative of hamstern

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From German Hamster.

Noun

hamster m (definite singular hamsteren, indefinite plural hamstere or hamstre or hamstrer, definite plural hamsterne or hamstrene)

1. a hamster

References

• “hamster” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From German Hamster.

Noun

hamster m (definite singular hamsteren, indefinite plural hamsterar, definite plural hamsterane)

1. a hamster

References

• “hamster” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• hámster (uncommon)
• hâmster (rare)

Etymology

From German Hamster and ultimately of Balto-Slavic origin.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʁɐ̃.mis.teʁ/ [ˈhɐ̃.mis.teh], /ˈʁɐms.teʁ/ [ˈhɐms.teh]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʁɐ̃.mis.teʁ/ [ˈhɐ̃.mis.teh], /ˈʁɐms.teʁ/ [ˈhɐms.teh]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ˈʁɐ̃.mis.teɾ/ [ˈhɐ̃.mis.teɾ], /ˈʁɐms.teɾ/ [ˈhɐms.teɾ]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈʁɐ̃.miʃ.teʁ/ [ˈχɐ̃.miʃ.teχ], /ˈʁɐmʃ.teʁ/ [ˈχɐmʃ.teχ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʁɐms.teɻ/ [ˈhɐms.teɻ], /ˈʁɐ.mis.teɻ/ [ˈhɐ.mis.teɻ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈɐms.tɛɾ/

Noun

hamster m (plural hamsters)

1. hamster (small, short-tailed European rodent)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Hamster.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈham.ster/

Noun

hamster m (plural hamsteri)

1. hamster

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	hamster	hamsterul		hamsteri	hamsterii
genitive-dative	hamster	hamsterului		hamsteri	hamsterilor
vocative	hamsterule			hamsterilor

Swedish

en hamster

Etymology

From German Hamster and ultimately of Balto-Slavic origin.

Noun

hamster c

1. hamster

   Hamstern sprang i hjulet

   The hamster was running in the wheel

Declension

Declension of hamster

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	hamster	hamsters
	definite	hamstern	hamsterns
plural	indefinite	hamstrar	hamstrars
	definite	hamstrarna	hamstrarnas

Related terms

• guldhamster
• hamsterbur
• hamsterhjul
• hamstra
• hamstrare
• hamstring

References

• hamster in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• hamster in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• hamster in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• Svensk MeSH

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from English hamster.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈhamsteɾ/ [ˈhams.t̪ɛɾ]
• Rhymes: -amsteɾ
• Syllabification: hams‧ter

Noun

hamster (Baybayin spelling ᜑᜋ᜔ᜐ᜔ᜆᜒᜇ᜔)

1. hamster
   • 1996, Emmanuel A. Reyes, Malikhaing pelikula: mga sanaysay tungkol sa pelikulang Pilipino:

     Ilalagay ni PAUL ang retrato ni Ferdinand at Imelda Marcos sa likod ng kulungan ng mga hamster.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 2020, TINA LATA, The Good Girl's Revenge:

     Kung may nasabi man akong hindi maganda, bakit hindi niya sabihin sa 'kin? Hindi naman ako manghuhula para malaman kung anong problema niya. Tiningnan ko 'yong hamster na gusto kong bilhin pero naisip ko si Tammy.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Turkish

Etymology

From English hamster.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈhɑm.s(ɯ)tæɾ]
• Hyphenation: hams‧ter

Noun

hamster (definite accusative hamsteri, plural hamsterler)

1. hamster

Declension

Inflection
Nominative	hamster
Definite accusative	hamsteri
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	hamster	hamsterler
Definite accusative	hamsteri	hamsterleri
Dative	hamstere	hamsterlere
Locative	hamsterde	hamsterlerde
Ablative	hamsterden	hamsterlerden
Genitive	hamsterin	hamsterlerin
Possessive forms Nominative Singular Plural 1st singular hamsterim hamsterlerim 2nd singular hamsterin hamsterlerin 3rd singular hamsteri hamsterleri 1st plural hamsterimiz hamsterlerimiz 2nd plural hamsteriniz hamsterleriniz 3rd plural hamsterleri hamsterleri Definite accusative Singular Plural 1st singular hamsterimi hamsterlerimi 2nd singular hamsterini hamsterlerini 3rd singular hamsterini hamsterlerini 1st plural hamsterimizi hamsterlerimizi 2nd plural hamsterinizi hamsterlerinizi 3rd plural hamsterlerini hamsterlerini Dative Singular Plural 1st singular hamsterime hamsterlerime 2nd singular hamsterine hamsterlerine 3rd singular hamsterine hamsterlerine 1st plural hamsterimize hamsterlerimize 2nd plural hamsterinize hamsterlerinize 3rd plural hamsterlerine hamsterlerine Locative Singular Plural 1st singular hamsterimde hamsterlerimde 2nd singular hamsterinde hamsterlerinde 3rd singular hamsterinde hamsterlerinde 1st plural hamsterimizde hamsterlerimizde 2nd plural hamsterinizde hamsterlerinizde 3rd plural hamsterlerinde hamsterlerinde Ablative Singular Plural 1st singular hamsterimden hamsterlerimden 2nd singular hamsterinden hamsterlerinden 3rd singular hamsterinden hamsterlerinden 1st plural hamsterimizden hamsterlerimizden 2nd plural hamsterinizden hamsterlerinizden 3rd plural hamsterlerinden hamsterlerinden Genitive Singular Plural 1st singular hamsterimin hamsterlerimin 2nd singular hamsterinin hamsterlerinin 3rd singular hamsterinin hamsterlerinin 1st plural hamsterimizin hamsterlerimizin 2nd plural hamsterinizin hamsterlerinizin 3rd plural hamsterlerinin hamsterlerinin