hamster
pronunciation
How to pronounce hamster in British English:
UK [ˈhæmstə(r)]
How to pronounce hamster in American English:
US [ˈhæmstər]
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- Noun:
- short-tailed Old World burrowing rodent with large cheek pouches
Word Origin
- hamster
- hamster: [17] The hamster is a native of western Asia and southeastern Europe, and its English name is of Slavic origin. In Old Slavic it was called chomestoru, and it appears that at some point in the past an ancestor of this was borrowed into Germanic. Old High German had hamustro, which became modern German hamster, source of the English word. In the 18th century the animal was also called the German rat.
- hamster (n.)
- c. 1600, from German Hamster, from Middle High German hamastra "hamster," probably from Old Church Slavonic chomestoru "hamster" (the animal is native to southeastern Europe), which is perhaps a blend of Russian chomiak and Lithuanian staras, both meaning "hamster." The older English name for it was German rat.
Example
- 1. Could a hamster survive a fall from an aeroplane ?
- 2. My table reminds me of a hamster 's house .
- 3. You 'll end up like a hamster on a never-ending wheel .
- 4. She lives in pennsylvania with her organic hamster , okra , and tomato farm .
- 5. To find out , the team engineered baby hamster kidney cells to express the human ace2 receptor .