hyena
See also: hýena
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Middle English hiena, variant of hyene, from Old French hiene, from Medieval Latin hyēna, from Latin hyaena, from Ancient Greek ὕαινα (húaina). Displaced native Old English nihtgenġe (literally “night walker”).
Pronunciation
editNoun
edithyena (plural hyenas or hyena or hyenae)
- Any of the medium-sized to large feliform carnivores of the subfamily Hyaenidae, native to Africa and Asia and noted for the sound similar to laughter which they can make if excited.
- 1994, T. M. Caro, Cheetahs of the Serengeti Plains: Group Living in an Asocial Species[1], page 283:
- I took no systematic data on the costs to cheetahs and hyenas, but some anecdotes suggest that both parties took numerical advantage and hunger into account.
- 2002, Maskew Miller Longman, Find Out about African Animals[2], page 28:
- Hyenas are scavengers, which means they eat food left behind by other animals and people.
- 2003, Anne Engh, Kay E. Holekamp, “Case Study 5A: Maternal Rank "Inheritance" in the Spotted Hyena”, in Frans B. M. De Waal, Peter L Tyack, editors, Animal Social Complexity: Intelligence, Culture, and Individualized Societies, page 149:
- Hyena biologists often think of spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) as baboons with big teeth and relatively small brains.
- (Subsaharan Africa) A man that performs ritualized sex acts with recently widowed women and menarchal girls.
- see Citations:hyena
Usage notes
edit- The hyena family, Hyaenidae, also includes the smaller insectivorous aardwolf, the sole survivor of a lineage regarded as more dog-like.
Derived terms
editTranslations
editmammal
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See also
editAnagrams
editCzech
editPronunciation
editNoun
edithyena f
- hyena (large carnivore)
Declension
editRelated terms
editFurther reading
editDutch
editEtymology
editBorrowed from Latin hyaena, from Ancient Greek ὕαινα (húaina).
Pronunciation
editNoun
edithyena f (plural hyena's, diminutive hyenaatje n)
Derived terms
editItalian
editNoun
edithyena f (plural hyene)
Swedish
editNoun
edithyena c
- a hyena
Declension
editDeclension of hyena | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | hyena | hyenan | hyenor | hyenorna |
Genitive | hyenas | hyenans | hyenors | hyenornas |
See also
editCategories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Medieval Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English indeclinable nouns
- English nouns with irregular plurals
- English terms with quotations
- en:Hyaenids
- en:People
- Czech terms with IPA pronunciation
- Czech lemmas
- Czech nouns
- Czech feminine nouns
- Czech hard feminine nouns
- cs:Carnivores
- Dutch terms borrowed from Latin
- Dutch terms derived from Latin
- Dutch terms derived from Ancient Greek
- Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch nouns with plural in -s
- Dutch feminine nouns
- nl:Hyaenids
- Italian lemmas
- Italian nouns
- Italian countable nouns
- Italian terms spelled with Y
- Italian feminine nouns
- Italian obsolete terms
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish nouns
- Swedish common-gender nouns
- sv:Hyaenids