Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A burrowing mammal (Orycteropus afer) of southern Africa, having a stocky, hairy body, large ears, a long tubular snout, and powerful digging claws.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The ground-hog or earth-pig of South Africa. See Orycteropus.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.) An edentate mammal, of the genus Orycteropus (Orycteropus afer), somewhat resembling a pig, common in some parts of Southern Africa. It is a nocturnal ungulate, burrows in the ground with its powerful claws, and feeds entirely on ants and termites, which it catches with its long, extensile, slimy tongue. It is the sole extant representative of the order Tubulidentata.
WordNet 3.0
- n. nocturnal burrowing mammal of the grasslands of Africa that feeds on termites; sole extant representative of the order Tubulidentata
Etymologies
- From Afrikaans aardvarken (obsolete), erdvark, from Afrikaans aarde ("earth"), (from Dutch, from Middle Dutch aerde) + Afrikaans vark ("pig"), (from Middle Dutch varken ("pig")).Early European colonists in South Africa noticed that the animal was similar to a pig, while "aarde" hints at the animal's habit of burrowing. (Wiktionary)
- Obsolete Afrikaans : aarde, earth (from Middle Dutch aerde; see er-2 in Indo-European roots) + vark, pig (from Middle Dutch varken; see porko- in Indo-European roots). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Look, anyone older than eight who admits to an affection for an animated aardvark is one cool kid.”
“I think the aardvark is pretty much on target: Sunstein chooses to use the phrase to represent a collection of ideas that are being discussed by conservatives, not that they actually use it themselves.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Is “The Constitution in Exile” A Myth?:
“When the Boers first saw a strange animal in South Africa, they called it aardvark, a Dutch word for ` earth pig. ”
“He's the kid who taught a world of youngsters how to spell "aardvark" - and that's not all.”
“(Type 'tag' to change that topic, 'cancel', or 'more' for options.) me: tag aardvark: (Type 'tag:' followed by any word or phrase to categorize this question.) me: tag: blogging aardvark: Thanks very much!”
“What fascinates me most about this is that you now have a tag for "aardvark”
“Funny thing, from the dictionary first page right now, that "aardvark" springs to my mind.”
“Posted February 8, 2005 9: 05 AM arbitrary aardvark writes:”
A Swindle, not a Joke, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
“A giant ridiculous dog and his aardvark in the snow:”
“But some quick numbers-crunching showed the most likely overdue books among young borrowers are Marc Tolon Brown 's "Arthur" series, about the antics of an aardvark, and Alyssa Satin Capucilli's "Biscuit" series, which centers on a rambunctious puppy.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘aardvark’.
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SECOND LETTER A
Words in which the second letter is A
Aa, AAA, Baba, Babe, Babel, AAAA, tangential, baby, bach, back, bad, bade and 90 more...
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Ar!
ar, Ar, argon, are, area, arf, arc, ark, aardwolf, aardvark, aardcucumber, yardarm and 253 more...
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A to abominator (Chambers)
aa gets over 40 hits
aardvark 49 hits
abbatoir 103 hits
abjure 138 hitsA, A-line, A-list, A-lister, A 1, A-road, A-side, from A to B, from A to Z, A-bomb, A-effect, A level and 254 more...
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everything
everythin?
a, i, aardvark, abdominals, any, anti-, ash, actuall, actually, add, abs, ass and 43 more...
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I didn't expect to see THAT letter do...
aa, savvy, divvy, powwow, matchhead, skiing, hajj, trekking, continuum, vacuum, bathhouse, fishhook and 37 more...
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Fun Words
Words that are fun to say....
gobbledygook, jings, crivens, hullabaloo, wheech, brouhaha, pizzazz, harum-scarum, namby-pamby, pussyfoot, frippery, pitter-patter and 333 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
thunderfuck, incredible, merp, sara, flopparoo, smother, fugly, buer, plum, canny, nefelibata, cuntbucket and 2434 more... -
thekatespanos's list
pomposity, gaggle, scintilla, lemming, bilk, vanquish, conflate, plenary, verisimilitude, perspicacious, rattletrap, obdurate and 325 more...
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zanshin's Words
gargoyle, ennui, paradigm, aardvark, verisimilitude, ghoti, tenacity, nescience, guillemet, squonk, maven, moxie and 210 more...
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kingofbash's Words
bash, poleaxed, salacious, libertine, charlatan, aplomb, fortuitous, finagle, apoplectic, debutante, carte blanche, aardvark and 472 more...
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Malachi_Constant's Words
triumverate, pandemic, parsnip, delineate, zamboni, parka, laser, swoop, malevolent, benevolent, fracas, tipsy and 372 more...
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elizacole's Words
isomorphic, endemic, tmesis, fillip, antedate, avoirdupois, jeremiad, hypnagogic, antediluvian, fuck, reification, raconteur and 251 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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Unusual and Random Words
My Favourite Kind
quagmire, soliloquy, aardvark, topaz, ardent, exquisite, pyromania, pyre, extravagant, obscure, quetzal, quibble and 199 more...
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pcofdirt's Words
besmirched, befuddled, ai, sanguineous, antidisestablishm..., ablation, ascertain, ascerbic, aardvark, begot, benign, buggery and 118 more...
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Monovocalics
Words that have only one of the vowels. On this list I include only words with at least three vowels. When I first started the list, if a word had several forms, I generally listed only the one wit...
syzygy, mirific, cumulus, homolog, monocot, bedewed, jezebel, referee, bikini, minikin, locomotor, terebenthene and 2359 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for aardvark.
qroqqa Moriarty: Sapristi brains! You think of everything.
Grytpype-Thynne: Not everything. Sometimes I don't think of aardvarks.
Moriarty: You mustn't be so careless. After all, aardvarks never killed anybody.
—Goon Show episode 'The Lost Emperor' Jul 17, 2009
reesetee Now that is a fine pair of ears, wouldn't you say? Jan 13, 2009
chained_bear AWW!! Jan 13, 2009
reesetee Hideously cute. :-) Jan 13, 2009
john “At a ceremony marking the F-111's USAF retirement, on 27 July 1996, it was officially named Aardvark, its long-standing unofficial nickname. Aardvark literally means "earth pig" in Dutch/Afrikaans, consequently, in Australia, the F-111 is often known by the affectionate nickname ‘Pig’.�? More on Wikipedia. Dec 30, 2008
sionnach Aardvark
Here I am, first in war and first in peace,
but as far as first in my country is concerned,
I would rather be sunning in Nice.
Still, I shall remain at the top of the list
unless Alvar Aalto is declared a fish.
With my ears and tail like ripe bananas,
I roam the nocturnal savannahs after termites,
whom I love to see stripe
my tongue,
while when faced with a lion
I lower myself into the ground.
This profound method protects me, and always will,
until some day
those lions lose their fear of creatures
hunched in graves.
(Richard Grossman) Nov 13, 2007
uselessness And after your first beating following said roll call, you'd also likely be the first in line for a name change at the Dept. of Records. May 15, 2007
pcofdirt If your last name was Aardvark, you'd likely be the first name called in a roll call. May 15, 2007
seanahan "Being an aardvark is not easy, all you get to eat is ants" - from some song Feb 5, 2007