Meerkat
//ˈmɪəkat// noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Suricata suricatta, a small carnivorous mammal of the mongoose family, from the Kalahari Desert, known for its habit of standing on its hind legs.
- 2 a mongoose-like viverrine of South Africa having a face like a lemur and only four toes wordnet
Example
More examples"Adriano saw a meerkat exhibit at the zoo."
Etymology
From Afrikaans meerkat, transferred use of Dutch meerkat (“guenon [monkey]”), from Middle Dutch meercatte (literally “sea cat”), compare English mercat. Sometimes suggested to be influenced by or derived from an Indian source; compare Hindi मर्कट (markaṭ, “ape, monkey”) and Sanskrit मर्कट (markaṭa). Note however Old High German merikazza, so any influence from Indo-Aryan would have to be exceptionally early.
Related phrases
More for "meerkat"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.