meerkat
pronunciation
How to pronounce meerkat in British English:
UK [ˈmɪəkæt]
How to pronounce meerkat in American English:
US [ˈmɪrkæt]
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- Noun:
- a mongoose-like viverrine of South Africa having a face like a lemur and only four toes
Word Origin
- meerkat (n.)
- late 15c., "monkey," from Dutch meerkat "monkey" (related to Old High German mericazza), apparently from meer "lake" + kat "cat." But compare Hindi markat, Sanskrit markata "ape," which might serve as a source of a Teutonic folk-etymology, even though the word was in Germanic before any known direct contact with India. First applied to the small South African mammals in 1801.
Example
- 1. 3 / 11 A meerkat basks in the sun in a zoo near frankfurt
- 2. A meerkat 's inevitably maturing voice may be crucial for its colony 's survival .
- 3. But one thing you won 't see in ubuntu 10.10 , maverick meerkat , is the new openoffice fork : libreoffice .
- 4. The issue is in the news every day , bloggers have launched an online reporting initiative called the meerkat corruption project , newspapers are beefing up their investigative units ......
- 5. After the televised death of a meerkat in a popular wildlife show was shown recently , the show 's office was swamped by grief-stricken notes .