Muskrat
//ˈmʌskɹæt// noun
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A semiaquatic rodent of the tribe Ondatrini.
"1865, Henry David Thoreau, Cape Cod, Chapter IX. "The Sea and the Desert", page 187. He also said that minks, muskrats, foxes, coons, and wild mice were found there, but no squirrels."
- 2 beaver-like aquatic rodent of North America with dark glossy brown fur wordnet
- 3 Any of several shrews in the family Soricidae, especially an Asian house shrew (Suncus murinus).
- 4 the brown fur of a muskrat wordnet
- 5 A bandicoot rat. obsolete
Example
More examples"1865, Henry David Thoreau, Cape Cod, Chapter IX. "The Sea and the Desert", page 187. He also said that minks, muskrats, foxes, coons, and wild mice were found there, but no squirrels."
Etymology
Perhaps so called for its musky odour and because it resembles a rat, or perhaps called by an Algonquian name like the Abenaki moskwas, with the spelling altered under the influence of the English words musk and rat.
Related phrases
More for "muskrat"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.