meerkat

English

A meerkat.

Alternative forms

• meercat, mierkat

Etymology

From Afrikaans meerkat, transferred use of Dutch meerkat (“guenon [monkey]”), from Middle Dutch meercatte (literally “sea 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). Note however Old High German merikazza, so any influence from Indo-Aryan would have to be exceptionally early.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪəkat/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪəɹkæt/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)kæt

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

Descendants

• → Japanese: ミーアキャット (mīakyatto)
• → Korean: 미어캣 (mieokaet)
• → Thai: เมียร์แคต (miia-kɛ́t)

Translations

small carnivorous mammal

• Afrikaans: meerkat
• Albanian: merkati
• Arabic: سُرِقَاط m (suriqāṭ), مِيرْكَات m (mirkāt)
• Armenian: սուրիկատ (surikat)
• Belarusian: сурыка́т m (surykát)
• Bengali: মিরক্যাট (mirkêṭ)
• Bulgarian: сурикат m (surikat)
• Catalan: suricata m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 狐獴 (zh) (húměng), 細尾獴／细尾獴 (zh) (xìwěiměng)

• Czech: surikata (cs) f
• Danish: surikat c
• Dutch: stokstaartje (nl) n, stokstaartje (nl)
• Esperanto: surikato
• Estonian: surikaat
• Faroese: mýrikøttur
• Finnish: surikaatti, nelisormimangusti
• French: suricate (fr) m
• Galician: suricato m
• Georgian: სურიკატი (suriḳaṭi)
• German: Erdmännchen (de) n
• Greek: σουρικάτα (el) (sourikáta)
• Hebrew: סוּרִיקָטָה
• Hungarian: szurikáta (hu)
• Icelandic: jarðköttur
• Irish: míorchat
• Italian: suricato (it) m
• Japanese: ミーアキャット (ja) (mīakyatto)
• Korean: 미어캣 (ko) (mieokaet)
• Kyrgyz: жербөбөк (jerböbök)
• Latvian: surikats m
• Lithuanian: surikata f
• Macedonian: меркат m (merkat)
• North Frisian: eerdmenken
• Norwegian: surikat
• Persian: دم‌عصایی
• Polish: surykatka (pl) f
• Portuguese: suricate (pt) m, suricato m
• Romanian: suricat m
• Russian: сурика́т (ru) m (surikát), сурика́та f (surikáta), мирка́т m (mirkát)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: меркат m

  Latin: merkat m

• Slovak: surikata f
• Sotho: mosha
• Spanish: suricata (es) f, suricato m
• Swahili: nguchiro wa porini
• Swedish: surikat c
• Tamil: பாலைவனக் கீரி (pālaivaṉak kīri)
• Thai: เมียร์แคต (miia-kɛ́t)
• Turkish: mirket
• Ukrainian: сурика́т m (surykát)
• Vietnamese: cầy vằn bụng đỏ
• Welsh: swricat m
• Yiddish: סוריקאַטע f (surikate)
• Zulu: imhlangala, ububhibhi, ubuhayi

Further reading

• meerkat on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Suricata suricatta on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

Anagrams

• e-market

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch meerkat (“guenon”), from Middle Dutch meercatte.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

meerkat (plural meerkatte or meerkaaie)

1. meerkat

Descendants

• → English: meerkat, meercat, mierkat
  • → Japanese: ミーアキャット (mīakyatto)
  • → Korean: 미어캣 (mieokaet)
  • → Thai: เมียร์แคต (miia-kɛ́t)

Dutch

FWOTD – 20 July 2019

guenon (C. mitis)

Etymology

From Middle Dutch meercatte (“monkey, ape”), from Old Dutch *merikatta. Equivalent to meer +‎ kat. Cognate with Old High German merikazza (German Meerkatze).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmeːrˌkɑt/, [ˈmɪːrˌkɑt]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: meer‧kat

Noun

meerkat f (plural meerkatten, diminutive meerkatje n)

1. a guenon, vervet, talapoin or patas; one of a number of monkeys of the genus Cercopithecus, or of the tribe Cercopithecini
   • 2013, Bas Vlugt, Namibië, Botswana en Zimbabwe:

     De groene meerkat of vervet monkey (Cercopithecus aethiops) is de meest voorkomende aap in zuidelijk Afrika.

     The African green monkey or vervet monkey (Cercopithecus aethiops) is the most common monkey in southern Africa.

   • 2016, Sterre Leufkens, Taal, in Elementaire deeltjes, vol. 40, Amsterdam University Press (publ.), page 32.

     Het bijzondere aan meerkatten is dat ze hun waarschuwingssignalen betekenisvol kunnen combineren met andere woordjes.

     The special thing about guenons is that they can meaningfully combine their warning signals with other short words.

Descendants

• Afrikaans: meerkat
  • → English: meerkat, meercat, mierkat
    • → Japanese: ミーアキャット (mīakyatto)
    • → Korean: 미어캣 (mieokaet)
    • → Thai: เมียร์แคต (miia-kɛ́t)