gerbil

English

Alternative forms

• gerbille (dated)
• (verb): gerble
• jerbil (dated)

Etymology

From French gerbille, from Latin gerbo, from Arabic جَرْبُوع (jarbūʕ) or يَرْبُوع (yarbūʕ, “jerboa”). Doublet of jerboa.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɝbl̩/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdʒɜːbl̩/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Homophone: Dyirbal
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)bəl

Noun

gerbil (plural gerbils)

1. A member of one of several species of small, jumping, murine rodents, of the genus Gerbillus and certain other genera in subfamily Gerbillinae, with leaping powers resembling those of the jerboa, native to Africa, India, and Southern Europe.

Derived terms

• Anderson's gerbil
• black-tailed gerbil
• Boehm's gerbil
• Burton's gerbil
• bushy-tailed hairy-footed gerbil
• Cape short-eared gerbil (Desmodillus auricularis)
• Cheesman's gerbil
• dune hairy-footed gerbil
• Emin's gerbil
• fat-tailed gerbil
• Flower's gerbil
• fringe-tailed gerbil
• hairy-footed gerbil
• Harrington's gerbil
• Harwood's gerbil
• Hoogstraal's gerbil
• Indian gerbil
• James's gerbil
• Kemp's gerbil
• lesser short-tailed gerbil
• Mackilligin's gerbil (Dipodillus mackilligini)
• Mauritanian gerbil (Gerbillus mauritaniae)
• midday gerbil (Meriones meridianus)
• Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus)
• Namib brush-tailed gerbil (Gerbillurus setzeri)
• Petter's gerbil (Taterillus petteri)
• Phillip's gerbil (Gerbilliscus phillipsi)
• Przewalski's gerbil (Brachiones przewalskii)
• tamarisk gerbil (Meriones tamariscinus)
• Tarabul's gerbil (Gerbillus tarabuli)
• Wagner's gerbil (Dipodillus dasyurus)

 

Translations

small rodent

• Arabic: يَرْبُوع m (yarbūʕ), جَرْبُوع m (jarbūʕ)
• Bulgarian: пясъчна мишка f (pjasǎčna miška)
• Catalan: jerbu petit
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 沙鼠 (shāshǔ)

• Danish: ørkenrotte
• Dutch: gerbil (nl) m, springmuis (nl) f renmuis f, woestijnrat (nl) f
• Esperanto: gerbilo
• Estonian: liivahiir
• Faroese: oyðimørkaíkorn n
• Finnish: gerbilli
• French: gerbille (fr) f
• Galician: xerbo (gl) m
• Georgian: მექვიშიები (mekvišiebi)
• German: Rennmaus (de) f, Wüstenrennmaus f, mongolische Rennmaus f
• Hungarian: futóegér, versenyegér
• Italian: gerbillo (it) m, ratto delle sabbie m
• Japanese: スナネズミ (sunanezumi), ジャービル (jābiru)
• Low German: rennmüüs
• Navajo: hóółtseiigi naʼatsʼǫǫsí
• Polish: myszoskoczek (pl) m, gerbil (pl) m, suwak (pl) m
• Portuguese: gerbilo m
• Romanian: gerbil (ro) m
• Russian: песча́нка (ru) f (pesčánka)
• Spanish: jerbo (es) m, gerbo (es) m, jerbillo m, gerbillo (es) m
• Swedish: ökenråtta (sv) c, gerbil c
• Vietnamese: chuột nhảy

Verb

gerbil (third-person singular simple present gerbils, present participle gerbilling or gerbiling, simple past and past participle gerbilled or gerbiled)

1. (intransitive) To rotate inside a monowheel or similar apparatus due to sudden acceleration or braking.
2. (intransitive, slang) To insert a small animal (typically a gerbil, supposedly) into one's rectum (a sexual practice in urban myth).

See also

• guinea pig
• hamster
• jerboa
• jird
• mouse
• rat

 

References

• “gerbil”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• gerbil on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Bigler, Bilger, Gibler

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French gerbille.

Noun

gerbil m (plural gerbili)

1. gerbil

Declension

Declension of gerbil

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) gerbil	gerbilul	(niște) gerbili	gerbilii
genitive/dative	(unui) gerbil	gerbilului	(unor) gerbili	gerbililor
vocative	gerbilule		gerbililor

Swedish

Alternative forms

• gerbill

Noun

gerbil c

1. a gerbil, especially a Mongolian gerbil (common as a pet)

   Synonym: ökenråtta

Declension

Declension of gerbil
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	gerbil	gerbilen	gerbiler	gerbilerna
Genitive	gerbils	gerbilens	gerbilers	gerbilernas

References

• gerbil in Svensk ordbok (SO)