aardvark

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (9)  · 
“
When the Boers first saw a strange animal in South Africa, they called it aardvark, a Dutch word for ` earth pig. '

View all »
Definitions (4)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun A burrowing mammal (Orycteropus afer) of southern Africa, having a stocky, hairy body, large ears, a long tubular snout, and powerful digging claws.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples

  • When the Boers first saw a strange animal in South Africa, they called it aardvark, a Dutch word for ` earth pig. ' —  VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol XV No 2
  • There were feelings of such intensity, such raw power, that they eclipsed the events that triggered them and revealed the scars they had left on their bearer. —  Ilse Witch
  • The other, white faced, was grimly forcing himself not to look over at his companion. —  Ilse Witch
  • He's the kid who taught a world of youngsters how to spell "aardvark" - and that's not all. —  Newsvine - Get Smarter Here
  • "We can come to you if that's more convenient." —  A Traitor to Memory
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

Aardvark has been looked up 22401 times, favorited 0 times, listed 42 times, and commented on 9 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. 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).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Dutch, from aarde, = English earth, + vark, used only in diminutive form varken, a pig, = English farrow and English pork, q. v.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ˈɑrdvɑrk/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about once a year.

Recent Lookups

blazer · Klor · Jemmy · villainy · flibbertigibbet

Recent Favorites

supine · doxastic · bissextile day · airship · cloud-shadows

Recent Pronunciations

milosrdenstvi · lichen-covered · futon · sagacity · monoragngocious