noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A nocturnal, insectivorous mammal, Proteles cristatus, of southern and eastern Africa, related to and resembling the hyena.

   "Today the only dog-like hyena is Africa’s termite-eating aardwolf."

2. 2
   striped hyena of southeast Africa that feeds chiefly on insects wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

animalantelopearmadillobatelephanthare

Example

More examples

"Today the only dog-like hyena is Africa’s termite-eating aardwolf."

Etymology

Borrowed from Afrikaans aardwolf.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.