Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A large aquatic South American rodent (Myocastor coypus) having webbed feet and a long tail. Also called nutria.
Wiktionary
- n. A large, crepuscular, semiaquatic rodent (Myocastor coypus) resembling a large rat, having bright orange-yellow incisors, native to South America, Europe, Asia and North America, valued for its fur in eastern Europe and central Asia and considered a pest elsewhere.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.) A South American rodent (Myopotamus coypus), allied to the beaver. It produces a valuable fur called nutria.
WordNet 3.0
- n. aquatic South American rodent resembling a small beaver; bred for its fur
Etymologies
- Spanish coipú, from Mapudungun koypu. (Wiktionary)
- American Spanish coipú, from Araucanian kóypu. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“They are also known as coypu, Greek for mouse and beaver and the preferred designation of biologists.”
“Otherwise known as the coypu, the nutria were introduced to south Louisiana in the 1930s to be raised for their fur.”
“In most other places they're known as coypu, the name given them by the Arucanians, an indigenous people of south-central Chile and Argentina, the animal's native territory.”
“These sturdy immigrants threaten some of our 46 native ladybirds in the manner of the coypu and grey squirrel.”
“Or maybe you're convinced by the claims of the fashion designers using "ethical fur" sourced from an animal called the nutria - or, as it's more commonly known, the coypu or bayou water rat?”
The Guardian: What should I do with the fur coats I inherited from my mother?
“Darwin provides examples such as the rhea and ostrich, agouti and rabbit, coypu and beaver, capybara and muskrat.”
“In East Anglia the South American coypu caused untold environmental damage.”
The Guardian: Will Andy Carroll prove the difference that destroys the planet?
“The nipples of female coypu are high on her flanks.”
Iz got a flat stomach in .25 seconds - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?
“We ascend the lofty peaks of the Cordillera and we find an alpine species of bizcacha; we look to the waters, and we do not find the beaver or musk-rat, but the coypu and capybara, rodents of the American type.”
“As well as dwarf breeds of cattle, sheep and goats, the book covers more unusual species that can be farmed profitably including deer, the giant rat, coypu and guinea pig are dealt with.”
1. Intensive sustainable livestock production: an alternative to tropical deforestation.
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘coypu’.
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Animals with orange teeth
Mostly... rodentia... of course. Thinking of them in this way adds a comforting layer of abstraction.
nutria, beaver, rat, porcupine, shrew, muskrat, chinchilla, hamster, coypu, mouse, Golden Cowrie, Bengal tigers who... and 2 more...
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(more or less) Temporary Urth List
Temporary list is temporary.
Collecting a few words here, which are then to be alloted to other lists.vassal, gnaw, putrescence, liege, pederasty, disseminate, loot, waning, fitful, hiatuse, plow, pious and 292 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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Quenelles of Random Palavery
More randomly-garnered terms from the world of words that don't quite yet fit into my other lists.
Goddidit, barcelona, filigrain, good-natured, ill-natured, half-bit, endosome, underplaying, parotid, denormalization, sleightgeist, wheezing and 2334 more...
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Rodents
A list of types of rodent, focusing on those with unusual names.
cavy, chinchilla, rat, mouse, nutria, capybara, hyrax, viscacha, gerbil, gopher, beaver, jerboa and 17 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for coypu.
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