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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Either of two nocturnal, burrowing, egg-laying mammals of the genera Tachyglossus and Zaglossus of Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea, having a spiny coat, slender snout, and an extensible sticky tongue used for catching insects. Also called spiny anteater.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. In ichthyology, a genus of anguilliform fishes: generally accounted a synonym of Muræna. Forster, 1778.
  2. n. In herpetology, a genus of reptiles: used by Wagler and others for the genus of vipers (Viperidæ) called Bitis by Gray and Cope. Merrem, 1820.
  3. n. In mammalogy:
  4. n. The typical genus of the family Echidnidæ, containing the aculeated ant-eater or spiny ant-eater of Australia and Tasmania, E. hystrix or aculeata, and another species, E. lawesi of New Guinea, together with a fossil one, E. oweni. They have 5 toes on each foot; the snout is straight and moderately developed. Tachyglossus is the same, and is the name properly to be used for this genus according to zoological rules of nomenclature, the name Echidna having been preoccupied in another sense, though it has most currency in this sense. See Acanthoglossus, ant-eater. Cuvier, 1797.
  5. n. [lowercase] A species of the genus Echidna or family Echidnidæ. The echidna resembles a large hedgehog, excepting that the spines are much longer, and the snout is long and slender, with a small aperture at the end for the protrusion of the long, flexible, worm-like tongue. The animal is nocturnal, fossorial, and insectivorous, and catches insects with its long, sticky tongue, whence it is known as the porcupine ant-eater. The echidna is closely related to the ornithorhynchus, or duck-billed platypus, and, like it, is oviparous.
  6. n. A genus of echinoderms.

Wiktionary

  1. n. Any of the four species of small spined monotremes, also known as a spiny anteaters, found in Australia and southern New Guinea.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Gr. Myth.) A monster, half maid and half serpent.
  2. n. (Zoöl.) A genus of Monotremata found in Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. They are toothless and covered with spines; -- called also porcupine ant-eater, and Australian ant-eater.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a burrowing monotreme mammal covered with spines and having a long snout and claws for hunting ants and termites; native to New Guinea
  2. n. a burrowing monotreme mammal covered with spines and having a long snout and claws for hunting ants and termites; native to Australia

Etymologies

  1. Through Latin, from Ancient Greek ἔχιδνα (ekhidna). Compare ἐχῖνος (ekhinos, "hedgehog"). (Wiktionary)
  2. Latin, adder, viper, from Greek ekhidna, from ekhis. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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Lists

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Comments

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  • chained_bear New conversation spawned on monotreme. Apparently the long-beaked echidna is native to New Guinea, making false the OED's statement that all echidnas are Australian (right on, Weirdnet!).... But glad to have found this page again!

    P.S. See here. Jun 10, 2009

  • kalayzich echidna is a greek word meaning viper and Jesus
    called the pharisees
    echidnas ie vipers May 17, 2009

  • frindley Two tails?! That's nothing. The male echidna has, they tell me, a four-headed penis. Even the Greeks didn't think of that.

    And yes, a "damn cute little spiky critter" is by far the best definition. Oct 9, 2008

  • yarb You're on fire, qroqqa. Righteous etymology! Jul 30, 2008

  • qroqqa Echidna is the Greek for "adder, viper". An echidna looks like a hedgehog, not like an adder. Consult a middling-sized Classical Greek dictionary and look up echidna, and run your finger down one further. You will find echinos "hedgehog".

    Now for the cover-up. They (the Zoologists' Cabal) then renamed the echidna genera Tachyglossus and Zaglossus, from tachy- "fast", gloss- "tongue", and za- "my, what a"; thus doing the nomenclatural equivalent of looking round with shifty eyes then pointing at its tongue, saying, "Nah, nah, see, when it sticks its tongue out like that to lick up ants, it looks amazingly like an adder sticking its, er, tongue out to, er, smell the air. It does."

    I once wrote to Stephen Jay Gould about this, and even broke out into green biro at the crucial point. But did I get any acknowledgement for my pioneering work? Not a sausage. Jul 30, 2008

  • whichbe In Greek mythology, Echidna was a female demon who was referred to as the Mother of all Monsters. She is accredited with mothering virtually every major monster in Greek mythology. She is depicted as having the face and torso of a beautiful woman, sometimes would have wings, and would always have the body of a serpent. Sometimes, she would be depicted as having two tails.
    (from Mystical Creature A Day) May 29, 2008

  • reesetee OR: In Greek mythology, a half-woman and half-snake, the mother of various monsters. Feb 24, 2007

  • chained_bear According to the OED:
    A genus of Australian toothless burrowing monotremate mammals (family Echidnidæ), resembling hedgehogs in size and external appearance. In several points their structure is allied to that of birds. The best known species is E. Hystrix, the Porcupine Ant-eater.

    According to me:
    A damn cute little spiky critter. Feb 6, 2007

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‘echidna’ has been looked up 2153 times, loved by 2 people, added to 24 lists, commented on 8 times, and has a Scrabble score of 13.