aardvark

See also: aard-vark

English

An aardvark.

Alternative forms

• aard-vark, erdvark

Etymology

Borrowed from Afrikaans aardvark (now rare), erdvark, from aarde (“earth”, from Middle Dutch aerde) +‎ vark (“pig”, from Middle Dutch varken). Early European colonists in South Africa noticed that the animal was similar to a pig, while aarde hints at the animal's habit of burrowing.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɑːd.vɑːk/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɑɹd.vɑɹk/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (Canada):

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Noun

aardvark (plural aardvarks)

1. The nocturnal, insectivorous, burrowing mammal Orycteropus afer, of the order Tubulidentata and somewhat resembling a pig. Common in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa. [from late 18^th c.]

   Synonyms: African anteater, antbear, ant bear, anteater, earth pig

   The aardvark burrows in the ground and feeds mostly on termites, which it catches with its long, slimy tongue.

   • 2007 August 15, Wayne A. Davis, “Replies to Green, Szabó, Jeshion, and Siebel”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 137, number 3, →DOI:

     If ‘aardvark lover’ has that syntactic structure, then it determinately means “lover of aardvarks.

Derived terms

• aardvark cucumber
• aardvarking
• aardvarklike
• Brazilian aardvark
• from aardvark to zymurgy

Translations

mammal

• Afrikaans: erdvark (af), (obsolete) aardvark (af)
• Amharic: ጃርት (ǧart)
• Arabic: خِنْزِير اَلْأَرْض m (ḵinzīr al-ʔarḍ)
• Armenian: խողովակատամ (hy) (xoġovakatam), աֆրիկյան մրջնակեր (afrikyan mrǰnaker)
• Asturian: gochu formigueru (ast)
• Azerbaijani: borudişli
• Basque: urde inurrijale
• Bengali: আর্ডভার্ক (arḍobhark), দক্ষিণ আফ্রিকার জন্তুবিশেষ (dokkhin aphrikar jontubiśeś)
• Bulgarian: мравояд (bg) m (mravojad)
• Catalan: porc formiguer m
• Cherokee: ᏙᏒᏓᎵ ᏗᎦᏰᏍᎩ (dosvdali digayesgi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 土豚 (zh) (tǔtún)

• Cornish: porhel dor m
• Czech: hrabáč m, hrabáč kapský m
• Danish: jordsvin (da) n
• Dutch: aardvarken (nl) n
• Erzya: модатуво (modatuvo)
• Esperanto: orikteropo, terporko
• Estonian: tuhnik (et)
• Finnish: maasika (fi)
• French: oryctérope (fr) m
• Galician: porco formigueiro m, oricteropo m
• Georgian: მილკბილა (milḳbila)
• German: Erdferkel (de) n

  Bavarian: erdfàggi

• Greek: μυρμηγκοφάγος (el) m (myrmigkofágos), oρυκτερόπους m (orykterópous, literally “Digging/Mining Feet”)
• Hadza: usai
• Hausa: dagbi
• Hebrew: שנבוב m
• Hungarian: földimalac (hu)
• Icelandic: jarðsvín (is) n
• Igala: ọ̀gbọ̀wù
• Interlingua: orycteropo
• Irish: arcán talún (ga) m
• Italian: oritteropo (it) m
• Japanese: 土豚 (ja) (tsuchibuta)
• Juǀ'hoan: gǃkún
• Kazakh: түтіктіс (tütiktis)
• Korean: 땅돼지 (ttangdwaeji)
• Latin: orycteropus m
• Limburgish: eerdverke
• Lithuanian: vamzdžiadančiai
• Malay: ardvark (ms), babi tanah
• Maltese: orikteropu m
• Manx: muc hallooin f
• Norman: couochon d’tèrre m
• Norwegian: jordsvin n
• Occitan: oricteròp
• Oromo: awaaldiigessa (om) ?, olokee (om) ?, waldiigessa
• Persian: خوک خاکی (xuk-e xâki, literally “earth pig”)
• Polish: mrównik (pl) m anim, prosię ziemne (pl) n
• Portuguese: oricterope (pt) m, porco-da-terra (pt) m, jimbo m, porco-formigueiro (pt) m, timba (pt) f, timbo (pt) m, aardvark (pt) m, orictéropo m
• Romanian: porcul termitelor m
• Russian: трубкозу́б (ru) m (trubkozúb)
• Scottish Gaelic: mathan-sheangan m
• Spanish: cerdo hormiguero (es) m
• Swahili: mhanga (sw) class 1/2
• Swedish: jordsvin (sv) n
• Thai: อาร์ดวาร์ก
• Tswana: thakadu class 9/10
• Turkish: yer domuzu (tr)
• Ukrainian: трубкозу́б m (trubkozúb)
• Vietnamese: lợn đất
• Welsh: baedd daear m, grugarth f
• Wolof: njaxat bi
• Yiddish: ערדשווײַן m (erdshvayn)
• Yoruba: àfèìmòjò
• Zulu: isambane (zu) class 7/8

References

• Aard-vark in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• Jonathan E. Lighter, Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Volume I, A-G. Random House USA, 1994. →ISBN. page 1.

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch aardvarken, from aarde (“earth, soil”) +‎ varken (“pig”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

aardvark (plural aardvarke)

1. (now rare) alternative form of erdvark

Descendants

• → English: aardvark
• → Indonesian: babi tanah (calque)

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Afrikaans aardvark.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /aʁ.d͡ʒiˈvaʁ.ki/ [aɦ.d͡ʒiˈvah.ki], /aʁd͡ʒˈvaʁ.ki/ [aɦd͡ʒˈvah.ki]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /aʁ.d͡ʒiˈvaʁ.ki/ [aɦ.d͡ʒiˈvah.ki], /aʁd͡ʒˈvaʁ.ki/ [aɦd͡ʒˈvah.ki]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /aɾ.d͡ʒiˈvaɾ.ki/, /aɾd͡ʒˈvaɾ.ki/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /aʁ.d͡ʒiˈvaʁ.ki/ [aʁ.d͡ʒiˈvaχ.ki], /aʁd͡ʒˈvaʁ.ki/ [aʁd͡ʒˈvaχ.ki]
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /aɻ.d͡ʒiˈvaɻ.ki/, /aɻd͡ʒˈvaɻ.ki/

Noun

aardvark m (plural aardvarks)

1. aardvark (mammal)

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:orictéropo