jackal

jackal

English

Canis mesomelas (black-backed jackal)

Etymology

From French chacal, chacale, checale, schakal, ciacale, from Turkish çakal, from Persian شغال‎ (šağâl), borrowed from Sanskrit शृगाल (śṛgāla, “jackal”).[1]

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒækəl/
• Rhymes: -ækəl

Noun

jackal (plural jackals)

1. Any of certain wild canids of the genera Lupulella and Canis, native to the tropical Old World and smaller than a wolf.
   • 1987, Brenda E. F. Beck, Peter J. Claus, Praphulladatta Goswami, Jawaharlal Handoo (editors), Folktales of India, page 289,

     In passing, it also mentions how the jackal and the tiger acquired their reddish spots. All of the animals referred to, except the deer, have tricksterlike personalities, both in this tale and in other story contexts. But the jackal is the most renowned of all for roguishness.

   • 2002, Fred H. Harrington, The Ethiopian Wolf, page 6:

     Until recently, scientists thought Ethiopian wolves were a type of jackal. They gave Ethiopian wolves names like Semien jackal, Simenian jackal, or Ethiopian jackal.

   • 2007, McComas Taylor, The Fall of the Indigo Jackal: The Discourse of Division and Pūrnabhadra's Pañcatantra, page 52:

     As we will see, the jackal is usually associated in the Indic context with death and impurity, and would therefore sit squarely at the bottom of Dumont's social hierarchy.

2. A person who performs menial/routine tasks, a dogsbody.
   • 1819 July 1, “The Political Vis——ss”, in [John Mitford], editor, The New Bon Ton Magazine; or, Telescope of the Times, volume III, number 15, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], OCLC 314782218, page 179:

     A nephew of hers, after receiving some learning at her ladyship's expence, got a commission, and fell upon the field of Waterloo; another is still at her heels, as a sort of jackall to fetch and carry when required.

3. (derogatory) A person who behaves in an opportunistic way; especially a base collaborator.
4. (slang, rare) A jack (the playing card).
5. (rugby union) A player who steals the ball at the tackle.

Alternative forms

• jackall (obsolete)

Hypernyms

• (any of certain wild canids of genus Canis): canid, dog

Hyponyms

• (any of certain wild canids of genus Canis): golden jackal (Canis aureus); black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas, Cape jackal, East African jackal); side-striped jackal (Canis adustus)

Derived terms

• American jackal (coyote)
• Simien jackal (Ethiopian wolf)

Descendants

• → Japanese: ジャッカル (jakkaru)
• → Korean: 자칼 (jakal)
• → Malay: jakal
  • Indonesian: jakal
• → Thai: แจ็กคัล (jɛ̀k-kal)

Translations

wild canine

Abkhaz: абга (abga) Afar: wákri Afrikaans: jakkals (af) Albanian: çakall (sq) m Arabic: اِبْن آوَى‎ m (ibn ʔāwā) Aramaic: Classical Syriac: ܝܪܘܪܐ‎ f (yārōrā), ܫܓܠ‎ m (šəḡal) Jewish Aramaic: יָרוֹרָא‎ f (yārōrā) Armenian: շնագայլ (hy) (šnagayl) Assamese: শিয়াল (xial) Atong (India): sial Azerbaijani: çaqqal (az) Basque: txakal Belarusian: шака́л m (šakál) Bengali: শৃগাল (śŕgal), শিয়াল (bn) (śiyal) Berber Central Atlas Tamazight: ⵓⵛⵛⵏ m (uššn), ⵜⵓⵛⵛⵏⵜ f (tuššnt) Breton: aourgi (br) m Bulgarian: чака́л (bg) m (čakál) Burmese: ခွေးအ (hkwe:a.), ခှေး Catalan: xacal (ca) m Chechen: чагӏалкх (čağalq) Chichewa: nkhandwe Chinese: Mandarin: 胡狼 (zh) (húláng), 狐狼 (húláng), 豺狼 (zh) (cháiláng) Coptic: ⲃⲟⲓϣⲓ (boiši) Crimean Tatar: çaqal Czech: šakal (cs) m Danish: sjakal (da) c Demotic: spe Dutch: jakhals (nl) m Egyptian: (zꜣb m), (wnš m) Esperanto: ŝakalo Estonian: šaakal (et) Faroese: sjakalur m Finnish: sakaali (fi) French: chacal (fr) m Galician: chacal (gl) m Georgian: ტურა (ṭura) German: Schakal (de) m, Schakalin f Greek: τσακάλι (el) n (tsakáli) Ancient: θώς m or f (thṓs), λυκοπάνθηρ m (lukopánthēr) Gujarati: શિયાળ m (śiyāḷ) Hausa: dilā Hawaiian: iākala, ʻīlio hae Hebrew: תַּן‎ (he) m (tan), אִי‎ (he) m (i) (biblical) Hindi: सियार (hi) m (siyār) Hungarian: sakál (hu) Icelandic: sjakali (is) m Ido: shakalo (io) Indonesian: jakal (id) Irish: seacál m Italian: sciacallo (it) m, sciacalla f Japanese: ジャッカル (ja) (jakkaru) Javanese: asu alas Kabyle: ⵓⵞⴻⵏ (učen) Kashmiri: شال‎ m (śāl), شٲج‎‎ f (śạ̄j‎) Kazakh: шағал (şağal), шақал (şaqal), қорқау қасқыр (qorqau qasqyr) Khmer: សិគាល (km) (sekiəl) Korean: 자칼 (ko) (jakal), 재칼 (jaekal) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: چەقەڵ‎ (ku) (çeqell) Northern Kurdish: çeqel (ku) Kyrgyz: көркоо (körkoo), чөө (ky) (çöö) Lak: чакъал (čaq:al) Lao: ຫມາຈອກ (mā chǭk) (fox, jackal, wild dog), ຫມາຈິກຈອກ (mā chik chǭk) (fox, jackal) Latin: canis aureus m, thōs, ciacalis m or f Latvian: šakālis m Lezgi: чакъал (čaq̄al) Lithuanian: šakalas (lt) m Macedonian: чакал m (čakal), шакал m (šakal) Malay: Jawi: جاکل‎ Rumi: jakal Manx: coo conveyrt m Mongolian: цөөвөр чоно (cöövör čono) Norwegian: Bokmål: sjakal (no) m Nynorsk: sjakal m Oromo: jeedala, waangoo Persian: شغال‎ (fa) (šoğâl) Polish: szakal (pl) m Portuguese: chacal (pt) m Punjabi: Gurmukhi: ਗਿੱਦੜ m (giddaṛ) Shahmukhi: گِدَّڑ‎ m (giddaṛ) Rohingya: 𐴇𐴞𐴥𐴘𐴝𐴓‎ (híiyal) / híiyal Romanian: șacal (ro) m Russian: шака́л (ru) m (šakál) Sanskrit: सृगाल (sa) m (sṛgāla) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ша̏кал m Roman: šȁkal (sh) m Slovak: šakal (sk) m Slovene: šakal (sl) m Spanish: chacal (es) m Swahili: mbweha (sw) class 9/10 Swedish: schakal (sv) c, sjakal (sv) c Sylheti: ꠢꠤꠀꠟ (hial) Tagalog: tsakal Tajik: шағол (šaġol) Tedaga: turki Telugu: నక్క (te) (nakka) Thai: แจ็กคัล (jɛ̀k-kal) Tibetan: འཕར་བ ('phar ba) Tocharian B: niśācare Turkish: çakal (tr) Turkmen: şagal Ubykh: б'агьашә (ḅagʲaŝʷ) Ukrainian: шака́л m (šakál) Urdu: گِیدَڑ‎ m (gīdaṛ), سیار‎ m (siyār) Uyghur: چىلبۆرە‎ (chilböre) Uzbek: shaqal (uz), chiyaboʻri (uz) Vietnamese: chó rừng Volapük: jakal (vo) Welsh: siacal m Wolof: till gi (wo) Yiddish: שאַקאַל‎ m (shakal) Zulu: impungushe (zu) class 9/10

person who performs menial/routine tasks

Georgian: შავი სამუშაოს შემსრულებელი (šavi samušaos šemsrulebeli) Macedonian: аргат m (argat)

person who behaves in an opportunistic way

Albanian: çakall (sq) m, çakalle (sq) f Finnish: liero (fi) Greek: τσακάλι (el) n (tsakáli) Italian: sciacallo (it) m Russian: шака́л (ru) m (šakál) Turkish: çakal (tr)

slang for the playing card jack

Dutch: boer (nl) m Italian: fante (it) m

See also

• (canids) canid; coyote, dog, fox, jackal, wolf ^{(Category: en:Canids)}

References

• Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. →ISBN

1. Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “jackal”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Verb

jackal (third-person singular simple present jackals, present participle jackalling, simple past and past participle jackalled)

1. To perform menial or routine tasks
   • 1800, Pamphlets on British Taxation:

     They have jackalled for the great beast, to pick in turns the bones of each other; they have subserved those above, to oppress and defraud those below; and they are suffering, and, so far as classes can, justly suffering their purgation.