Ichneumon

//ɪkˈnjuːmən// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An Egyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon), found in Africa and southern Europe.

    "when the Ichneumon is to grapple with the Crocodile, he walloweth his body in the mire, then lets the same drie and harden upon him[…]."

  2. 2
    northern African mongoose; in ancient times thought to devour crocodile eggs wordnet
  3. 3
    An ichneumon wasp.

    "Ada's unique Lorelei Underwing had died, paralyzed by some ichneumon that had not been deceived by those clever prominences and fungoid smudges."

  4. 4
    a legendary animal, which kills crocodiles and dragons

Synonyms

All synonyms
egyptian mongooseegyptian mongooseherpestes ichneumonnems

Example

More examples

"when the Ichneumon is to grapple with the Crocodile, he walloweth his body in the mire, then lets the same drie and harden upon him[…]."

Etymology

From Latin ichneumōn, from Ancient Greek ἰχνεύμων (ikhneúmōn, “tracker”), from ἴχνος (íkhnos, “track, footstep”).

Related phrases

egyptian mongooseherpestes ichneumonichneumon wasp

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