woodchuck

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Cree ocêk, otchek (“fisher”), borrowed from Ojibwe ojiig (“fisher, marten”), or a similar term in a related Algonquian language, subsequently reapplied to the groundhog.

An earlier form of this word, woodshock, still sometimes designates the marten. Also a doublet of wejack.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwʊd.t͡ʃʌk/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (US):

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Noun

woodchuck (plural woodchucks)

1. (Northern US) A rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots, Marmota monax.

   Synonyms: groundhog, whistle pig, land-beaver, moonack

Translations

rodent of the family Sciuridae

Algonquin: akokodjìc Bulgarian: северноамерика́нски мармо́т m (severnoamerikánski marmót) Cherokee: ᎣᎦᏅ (oganv) Chinese: Mandarin: 美洲旱獺 / 美洲旱獭 (Měizhōu hàntǎ), 北美土撥鼠 / 北美土拨鼠 (Běiměi tǔbōshǔ) Czech: svišť lesní m Dutch: bosmarmot (nl) Finnish: metsämurmeli (fi) French: marmotte (d’Amérique) f, siffleux (fr) m German: Waldmurmeltier n Greek: αρκτόμυς m (arktómys), μαρμότα (el) f (marmóta) Hungarian: erdei mormota (hu) Italian: marmotta (it) f Lithuanian: miškinis švilpikas m Navajo: dlǫ́ʼátsoh Norwegian: Bokmål: skogmurmeldyr n Pennsylvania German: Grundsau Plautdietsch: Ieedhunt m Polish: świszcz (pl) m, świstak amerykański (pl) m Portuguese: marmota americana f Russian: суро́к (ru) m (surók) Spanish: marmota (americana) f Swedish: skogsmurmeldjur n Turkish: dağ sıçanı (tr) Unami: munhake Welsh: twrlla m, twrlla llwyd m

Further reading

• woodchuck on Wikipedia.Wikipedia