muskrat

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 (Berkshire, UK)

  (file)

Noun

muskrat (plural muskrats)

1. A large aquatic rodent (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 species of shrews in the family Soricidae, especially the 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: فأر المسك‎ m Aragonese: please add this translation if you can Asturian: please add this translation if you can 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 (sv) 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: please add this translation if you can Zulu: please add this translation if you can

Suncus murinus

Finnish: kyläpäästäinen German: Moschusspitzmaus Hindi: छछुंदर (hi) (chachundar) Kannada: ಸುಂಡಿಲಿ (kn) (suṇḍili), ಸುಂಡಿಲಿ (kn) (suṇḍili)

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