guinea pig

guinea pig

See also: guineapig and guinea-pig

English

guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus)

Alternative forms

• guinea-pig, Guinea-pig
• Guinea pig

Etymology

The origin of "guinea" in "guinea pig" is hard to explain. One theory is that the animals were brought to Europe by way of Guinea, leading people to think they had originated there.[1] "Guinea" was also frequently used in English to refer generally to any far-off, unknown country, and so the name may simply be a colorful reference to the animal's foreignness.[2] Others believe "guinea" may be an alteration of the word coney (“rabbit”); guinea pigs were referred to as "pig coneys" in Edward Topsell's 1607 treatise on quadrupeds.[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɪni pɪɡ/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

guinea pig (plural guinea pigs)

1. A tailless rodent of the family Caviidae and the genus Cavia, with short ears and larger than a hamster; the species Cavia porcellus is often kept as a pet.

   Synonym: (formal name) cavy

2. A rodent of any of several species within the family Caviidae.
3. (figuratively) A living experimental subject.

   Synonym: lab rat

   He became a human guinea pig and was paid by the company.

   • 1970, Larry Niven, Ringworld, page 115:

     [H]e spoke of the unwisdom of volunteering one's services as a guinea pig.

   • 2008 October, Davy Rothbart, “How I caught up with dad”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 8, ISSN 1054-4836, page 112:

     My dad told me about his days in the Navy: He'd agreed to be a guinea pig in exchange for a shorter enlistment. They kept him awake for a week straight.

4. (dated, slang) A professional company director, without time or real qualifications for the duties.
5. (nautical, obsolete) A midshipman in the East India service; (by extension) a low-skilled or non-proficient seaman.
   • 1748, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Roderick Random‎, page 183:

     A good seaman he is... none of your guinea-pigs.

   • 1779, Macintosh, Travels, quoted in Carey, Old Days, i. 73

     I promise you, to me it was no slight penance to be exposed during the whole voyage to the half sneering, satirical looks of the mates and guinea-pigs.

Derived terms

Terms derived from guinea pig

• Abyssinian guinea pig
• act as a guinea pig
• adult guinea pig
• Agouti guinea pig
• Brazilian guinea pig, Brazilian Guinea Pig (Cavia aperea)
• Brindle guinea pig
• Crested guinea pig
• common guinea pig
• Dalmatian guinea pig
• domesticated guinea pig
• domestic guinea pig, Cavia porcellus (Cavia anolaimae, Cavia guianae)
• domestic guinea pig genome
• Dutch guinea pig
• female guinea pig
• baby guinea pig
• Greater guinea pig, Greater Guinea Pig, Cavia magna
• guinea pig breed
• guinea pig breeder
• guinea pig brush
• guinea pig cage
• guinea pig care
• guinea pig diseases
• guinea pig fancier
• guinea pig fancy
• guinea pig food
• guinea pig genetics
• guinea pig genome
• guinea piggie
• guinea piggies
• guinea piggy
• guinea pig handbook
• guinea pig husbandry
• guinea pig meat
• guinea pig model
• guinea-pig productivity
• guinea pig pup
• guinea pig sounds
• guinea pigs' teeth
• guinea pig strains
• guinea pig world
• hairless guinea pig
• human guinea pig
• Himalayan guinea pig
• Intermediate guinea pig, Intermediate Guinea Pig, Cavia intermedia
• laboratory guinea pig
• long-haired guinea pig
• long-haired rosetted guinea pig
• male guinea pig
• Montane guinea pig, Montane Guinea Pig, Cavia tschudii (Cavia nana)
• parti-colored guinea pig
• Peruvian guinea pig
• Rex guinea pig
• Roan guinea pig
• rough-coated guinea pig
• Satin guinea pig
• Self guinea pig
• Sheltie guinea pig
• Shiny guinea pig, Shiny Guinea Pig, Cavia fulgida
• short-haired guinea pig
• smooth-coated guinea pig
• smooth-haired guinea pig
• Teddy guinea pig
• Texel guinea pig
• Tortoiseshell guinea pig,
• wild guinea pig
• young guinea pig

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: dyinipi

Translations

rodent

Abkhaz: please add this translation if you can Afrikaans: marmotjie Albanian: kavie, gini thi Arabic: خِنْزِير غِينِيَّا‎ m (ḵinzīr ḡiniyyā) Egyptian Arabic: فار جبلي‎ m (fār gabalī) Armenian: ծովախոզուկ (hy) (covaxozuk) Asturian: cobaya f Azerbaijani: dəniz donuzcuğu Basque: akuri Belarusian: марска́я сві́нка f (marskája svínka) Breton: razh-indez Bulgarian: мо́рско свинче́ (bg) n (mórsko svinčé) Burmese: ပူး (my) (pu:) Catalan: cobaia, conillet d'índia Chinese: Cantonese: please add this translation if you can Mandarin: 豚鼠 (zh) (túnshǔ), 天竺鼠 (zh) (tiānzhúshǔ) Cornish: hogh Gyni m Czech: morče (cs) n Danish: marsvin (da) n Dutch: guinees biggetje n, cavia (nl) m Esperanto: kobajo Estonian: merisiga Faroese: marsvín n Finnish: marsu (fi) French: cochon d'Inde (fr) m, cobaye (fr) m Friulian: cavie Galician: cobaia (gl) f Georgian: ზღვის გოჭი (zɣvis goč̣i) German: Meerschweinchen (de) n, (colloquial) Meerschwein (de) n Greek: ινδικό χοιρίδιο f (indikó choirídio) Hebrew: קביה‎ (he), שרקן‎ m Hindi: गिनी पिग (ginī pig) Hungarian: tengerimalac (hu) Icelandic: naggrís (is) m Ido: kobayo (io) Indonesian: marmut (id) Irish: muc ghuine f Italian: cavia (it) f, porcellino d'India m, marà (it) Japanese: モルモット (ja) (morumotto), 天竺鼠 (ja) (てんじくねずみ, tenjiku-nezumi), ギニアピッグ (giniapiggu) Khmer: កណ្ដុរសំពៅ (kɑndao sɑmpɨv) Korean: 기니피그 (ko) (ginipigeu) Ladin: porcel de mar Latin: Cavia porcellus Latvian: jūras cūciņa Laz: please add this translation if you can Lithuanian: jūrų kiaulytė Lower Sorbian: morska swinka Luxembourgish: Mierschwéngchen n Macedonian: морско прасе n (morsko prase), заморец m (zamorec) Malay: marmut Maltese: fenek tal-Indja Maori: kinikini Mongolian: усан гахай (usan gaxaj) Norman: couochon d'la Dginnée m Norwegian: Bokmål: marsvin n Nynorsk: marsvin n Occitan: cobai Persian: خوکچه هندی‎ (xukče-ye hendi) Polish: kawia domowa f, świnka morska (pl) f Portuguese: cobaia (pt) f, porquinho-da-índia (pt) m, preá-da-índia m Quechua: kututu (qu), quwi, gowi, haka Romani: balo-koro m, bali-kori f Romanian: cobai (ro) m Romansch: portg da mar m Russian: морска́я сви́нка (ru) f (morskája svínka) Sami: mársa Sardinian: càvia Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: заморче n, заморац m, морско прасе n Roman: zamorče (sh) n, zamorac (sh) m, morsko prase (sh) n Shan: ပူး (shn) (púu) Sicilian: ciuḍḍu m, purciḍḍuzzu d'Innia m Slovak: morča (sk) n, morské prasiatko n Slovene: budra f, morski prašiček (sl) m Spanish: (especially figurative usage) conejillo de Indias (es) m, cobaya (es) f or m (especially scientific usage), (Venezuela) acure (es) m, (Colombia) curí m, (Cuba) curiel m, (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Southern Colombian Andes) cuy (es) m Swedish: marsvin (sv) n Tagalog: dagang-puti Thai: หนูตะเภา (nǔu-dtà-pao) Turkish: kobay (tr) Ukrainian: морська́ сви́нка f (morsʹká svýnka) Upper Sorbian: wujk Uyghur: دېڭىز چوشقىسى‎ (dë'ngiz choshqisi) Vietnamese: chuột lang (vi), bọ (vi) Volapük: kavead Welsh: mochyn cwta m West Frisian: bargemot Yiddish: ים־חזירל‎ n (yám-kházerl)

experimental subject

Albanian: gini thi Bulgarian: опитно зайче n (opitno zajče) Chinese: Cantonese: 白老鼠 (baak6 lou5 syu2) Mandarin: 白老鼠 (bái lǎoshǔ), 實驗品／实验品 (shíyànpǐn) Czech: pokusný králík m Danish: forsøgskanin c Dutch: proefkonijn (nl) n Finnish: koekaniini (fi) French: cobaye (fr) m Galician: cobaia (gl) f German: Versuchskaninchen (de) n, Proband (de) m, Probandin (de) f, Versuchsperson (de) f Greek: πειραματόζωο (el) n (peiramatózoo) Hebrew: שפן נסיונות‎ m Hungarian: kísérleti nyúl (hu) Italian: cavia (it) f Japanese: 実験材料 (じっけんざいりょう, jikken zairyō) Khmer: កណ្ដុរស (km) (kândŏrsâ) Macedonian: заморче m (zamorče) Norwegian: prøvekanin m, forsøkskanin (no) m Polish: królik doświadczalny m Portuguese: cobaia (pt) f Romanian: cobai (ro) m Russian: подо́пытный кро́лик (ru) m (podópytnyj królik) Slovak: pokusný králik m Spanish: conejillo de Indias (es) m Swedish: försökskanin (sv) c Turkish: kobay (tr) Ukrainian: піддослідний кролик m (piddoslidnyj krolyk)

See also

• cavy boar
• cavy piglet
• cavy sow

References

1. Wagner, Joseph E.; Manning, Patrick J (1976) The Biology of the Guinea Pig, Academic Press, →ISBN
2. “Results for "Guinea pig"”, in (please provide the title of the work)‎, Dictionary.com, accessed 2006-08-29