hyena

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See also: hýena

English

A spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta)
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English hiena, variant of hyene, from Old French hiene, from Medieval Latin hyēna, from Latin hyaena, from Ancient Greek ὕαινα (húaina). Displaced native Old English nihtgenġe (literally night walker).

Pronunciation

  • enPR: hī-ēʹnə, IPA(key): /haɪˈiːnə/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

hyena (plural hyenas or hyena or hyenae)

  1. Any of the medium-sized to large feliform carnivores of the subfamily Hyaenidae, native to Africa and Asia and noted for the sound similar to laughter which they can make if excited.
    • 1994, T. M. Caro, Cheetahs of the Serengeti Plains: Group Living in an Asocial Species, page 283:
      I took no systematic data on the costs to cheetahs and hyenas, but some anecdotes suggest that both parties took numerical advantage and hunger into account.
    • 2002, Maskew Miller Longman, Find Out about African Animals, page 28:
      Hyenas are scavengers, which means they eat food left behind by other animals and people.
    • 2003, Anne Engh, Kay E. Holekamp, “Case Study 5A: Maternal Rank "Inheritance" in the Spotted Hyena”, in Frans B. M. De Waal, Peter L Tyack, editors, Animal Social Complexity: Intelligence, Culture, and Individualized Societies, page 149:
      Hyena biologists often think of spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) as baboons with big teeth and relatively small brains.
  2. (Subsaharan Africa) A man that performs ritualized sex acts with recently widowed women and menarchal girls.

Usage notes

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Anagrams

Czech

Czech Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia cs

Pronunciation

Noun

hyena f

  1. hyena (large carnivore)

Declension

Further reading

  • hyena”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
  • hyena”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin hyaena, from Ancient Greek ὕαινα (húaina).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɦiˈjeːnaː/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: hy‧e‧na

Noun

hyena f (plural hyena's, diminutive hyenaatje n)

  1. hyena, any member of the family Hyaenidae

Derived terms

Italian

Noun

hyena f (plural hyene)

  1. (obsolete) Alternative spelling of iena

Swedish

Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sv
en hyena (fläckig hyena (spotted hyena))

Noun

hyena c

  1. hyena
    skrattande hyenor
    laughing hyenas

Declension

See also

References