Marmot

//ˈmɑɹ.mət// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any of several large ground-dwelling rodents of the genera Marmota and Cynomys in the squirrel family.
  2. 2
    stocky coarse-furred burrowing rodent with a short bushy tail found throughout the Northern Hemisphere; hibernates in winter wordnet

Example

More examples

"The badger travels steadily, with its body very low and close to the ground; the marmot, especially when excited, gallops along, with undulatory movements of the body."

Etymology

From Middle French marmote, from Old French marmotaine, marmontaine, murmontain, from Old Franco-Provençal marmotan, from Vulgar Latin *mures montani, the plural form of Latin mus monti (“mountain rat”); akin to Engadin Romansch murmont, Old High German muremunto (dialectal German Murmentel, standard Murmeltier).

Related phrases

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