muskrat

See also: musk-rat

English

Drawing of a muskrat dating from 1927

Alternative forms

• musk-rat

Etymology

Perhaps so called for its musky odour and because it resembles a rat, or perhaps called by an Algonquian name like the Abenaki moskwas, with the spelling altered under the influence of the English words musk and rat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmʌskɹæt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

muskrat (plural muskrats)

1. A large aquatic rodent of species Ondatra zibethicus.
   • 1865, Henry David Thoreau, Cape Cod, Chapter IX. "The Sea and the Desert", page 187.

     He also said that minks, muskrats, foxes, coons, and wild mice were found there, but no squirrels.

2. Any of several shrews in the family Soricidae, especially an Asian house shrew (Suncus murinus).

Synonyms

• ondatra (dialectal), 'rat (chiefly informal), rat (chiefly informal)
• (Ondatra zibethicus): musquash
• (Suncus murinus): Asian house shrew, musk shrew

Derived terms

• muskrat weed (Thalictrum pubescens)
• muskrat root (Acorus calamus)

Translations

Ondatra zibethicus

• Ahtna: dzen
• Algonquin: wajack
• Arabic: فَأْرُ المِسْك m (faʔru l-misk)
• Aragonese: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: mur almizcleru
• Azerbaijani: ondatra
• Bashkir: ондатра (ondatra)
• Basque: arratoi musketadun
• Belarusian: анда́тра f (andátra)
• Breton: razh-musk (br)
• Bulgarian: ондатра f (ondatra)
• Catalan: rata mesquera f
• Cherokee: ᏎᎳᎩᏍᏆ (selagisqua)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 麝鼠 (zh) (shèshǔ)

• Czech: ondatra (cs)
• Danish: bisamrotte
• Dutch: muskusrat (nl) f
• Erzya: шарапуло (šarapulo)
• Esperanto: ondatro
• Estonian: ondatra (et)
• Faroese: moskusrotta
• Finnish: piisami (fi)
• French: rat musqué (fr) m
• Galician: aguaneira (gl)
• Georgian: ონდატრა (ondaṭra)
• German: Bisamratte (de) f
• Greek: μοσχοπόντικας (moschopóntikas)
• Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: pézsmapocok (hu)
• Icelandic: moskusrotta, bísamrotta
• Ido: moskorato (io)
• Interlingua: please add this translation if you can
• Irish: muscfhrancach
• Italian: topo muschiato m
• Japanese: マスクラット (ja) (masukuratto)
• Korean: 사향쥐 (sahyangjwi)
• Latvian: ondatra
• Lithuanian: ondatra
• Lower Sorbian: bizamowy šćurk
• Lower Tanana: dzenh
• Luxembourgish: Bisamrat
• Macedonian: бизамски стаорец m (bizamski staorec)
• Maltese: far tal-misk ta’ l-ilma
• Mi'kmaq: gi'gwesu anim
• Munsee: xwáshkwshush
• Navajo: tooh łéʼétsoh
• Norwegian: bisamrotte
• Ojibwe: wazhashk
• Pashto: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: piżmak (pl) m
• Portuguese: rato almiscareiro m
• Romanian: bizam (ro) m
• Romansch: undatra
• Russian: онда́тра (ru) f (ondátra)
• Saanich: sq̕əɬq̕əɬ
• Sardinian: medrona muscada, topi muscau
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бизамски пацов m

  Roman: bizamski pacov m, mošusni štakor m (Croatia), bizamski štakor m (Croatia)

• Sindhi: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: ondatra pižmová
• Slovene: pižmovka f
• Somali: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: rata almizclera
• Swedish: bisam (sv) c, bisamråtta c
• Tanacross: dzenh
• Tlingit: tsín
• Turkish: misk sıçanı
• Udmurt: вукомак (vukomak)
• Ukrainian: онда́тра f (ondátra)
• Upper Sorbian: pižmo, pižmowa šćura, bizamowa myš
• Vietnamese: chuột xạ hương
• Welsh: mwsglygoden, llygoden fwsg
• West Frisian: muskusrôt
• Xhosa: please add this translation if you can
• Yiddish: פּיזעם m (pizem)
• Zulu: please add this translation if you can

Suncus murinus

• Czech: bělozubka hnědá
• Finnish: kyläpäästäinen
• German: Moschusspitzmaus
• Hindi: छछुंदर (hi) (chachundar)
• Kannada: ಸುಂಡಿಲಿ (kn) (suṇḍili), ಸುಂಡಿಲಿ (kn) (suṇḍili)
• Russian: гига́нтская белозу́бка f (gigántskaja belozúbka), бу́рая му́скусная землеро́йка f (búraja múskusnaja zemlerójka), домова́я многозу́бка f (domovája mnogozúbka)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Telugu: కంపెలుక (te) (kampeluka)

References

• muskrat on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Asian house shrew on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Ondatra zibethicus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Suncus murinus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Ondatra zibethicus on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• Muktsar, muktars