cheetah

cheetah

English

Cheetah

Alternative forms

• chetah, cheeta (archaic)

Etymology

Borrowed from Hindi चीता (cītā, “leopard, panther”), ultimately from Sanskrit चित्र (citra, “multicolored, speckled”) (akin to Old High German haitar (“bright”) [1] > German heiter; Old Norse heiðr (“bright”)) + Sanskrit काय (kāya, “body”), thus “having a spotted body”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃiːtə/, /ˈt͡ʃiːtɑ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːtə
• Homophones: Chita, cheater (in non-rhotic accents)

Noun

cheetah (plural cheetahs)

1. A distinctive member (Acinonyx jubatus) of the cat family, slightly smaller than the leopard, but with proportionately longer limbs and a smaller head; native to Africa and southeast Asia (where it is nearly extinct) and also credited with being the fastest terrestrial animal.

Synonyms

• hunting leopard, hunting cat

Derived terms

• American cheetah (†Miracinonyx trumanii)
• do cheetah flips
• king cheetah

Descendants

• → Portuguese: chita
• → Spanish: chita

Translations

Acinonyx jubatus

Afrikaans: jagluiperd (af) Albanian: gepard m Amharic: አቦሸማኔ (ʾäbošämane) Arabic: فَهْد‎ (ar) m (fahd), شِيتَه‎ f (šītah) Armenian: վագրակատու (hy) (vagrakatu), գեպարդ (hy) (gepard) Assamese: চিতা বাঘ (sita bagh) Azerbaijani: çita, gepard, qepard Basque: gepardo Belarusian: гепа́рд m (hjepárd) Bengali: চিতা (cit‌ôa) Bulgarian: гепа́рд (bg) m (gepárd) Burmese: သစ်ကျုတ် (my) (sackyut) Catalan: guepard Cherokee: ᏢᏓᏥ ᎠᎦᏣᏄᎳ (tlvdatsi agatsanula) Chinese: Mandarin: 獵豹／猎豹 (zh) (lièbào) Czech: gepard m Danish: gepard c Dutch: jachtluipaard (nl) m or n, cheeta (nl) m Egyptian: (ꜣby mḥw m) Esperanto: gepardo Estonian: gepard Finnish: gepardi (fi) French: guépard (fr) m Georgian: ავაზა (avaza) German: Gepard (de) m Greek: γατόπαρδος (el) m (gatópardos), τσιτάχ (el) m (tsitách) Gujarati: ચિત્તો (citto) Hebrew: בַּרְדְּלָס‎ (he) m (bard'lás), צִ׳יטָה‎ f (chíta) Hindi: चीता (hi) m (cītā) Hungarian: gepárd (hu) Icelandic: blettatígur (is) m Ido: gepardo (io) Indonesian: cheetah Irish: síota m, liopard fiaigh m Italian: ghepardo (it) m Japanese: チーター (ja) (chītā), 狩猟豹 (しゅりょうひょう, shuryōhyō) Kazakh: қабылан (qabylan) Khmer: ឆីតា (chəytaa) Korean: 치타 (ko) (chita) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: yûzpiling (ku), yûz, çîta (ku) Kyrgyz: гепард (ky) (gepard) Latvian: gepards m Lithuanian: gepardas m Macedonian: гепард m (gepard) Malay: Jawi: چيته‎ Rumi: citah Maltese: ċita f Maori: tīta Marathi: चीता m (cītā) Middle Persian: 𐭩𐭥𐭮𐭩‎ (yʿsy /yōz/) Mongolian: Cyrillic: үчимбэр (üčimber), гепард (gepard) Mongolian: ᠦᠴᠢᠮᠪᠡᠷ (üčimber) Navajo: náshdóí dilwoʼí Norwegian: Bokmål: gepard m Nynorsk: gepard m Persian: یوزپلنگ‎ (fa) (yuzpalang), چیتا‎ (čitâ), یوز‎ (fa) (yûz) Polish: gepard (pl) m Portuguese: guepardo (pt) m, chita (pt) f Romanian: ghepard (ro) m Russian: гепа́рд (ru) m (gepárd) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ге̏па̄рд m Roman: gȅpārd (sh) m Sinhalese: චීටා (cīṭā) Slovak: gepard (sk) m Slovene: gẹ̑pard (sl) m Somali: harimacad Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: gepard m Spanish: guepardo (es) m, chita (es) m Swahili: duma (sw) Swedish: gepard (sv) c, jaktleopard c Tagalog: gepardo Tajik: юз (yuz), гепард (gepard) Telugu: చిరుతపులి (te) (cirutapuli), చిరుతగండు (te) (cirutagaṇḍu) Thai: ชีตาห์ (chii-dtâa) Tibetan: ཤ་གཟིག (sha gzig) Tigrinya: ቺታ (čita) Turkish: çita (tr) Turkmen: geçigaplaň Ukrainian: гепа́рд m (hepárd), ґепа́рд m (gepárd) (rare spelling) Urdu: چیتا‎ m (cītā) Uzbek: gepard (uz) Vietnamese: báo săn, báo bờm, báo ghêpa Welsh: llewpart hela m, tsita m Wolof: tene mi (wo)

See also

• cheetah on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Acinonyx jubatus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Acinonyx jubatus on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

References

1. Etymology in Merriam-Webster's Dictionary