agouti

American  

[uh-goo-tee] / əˈgu ti /

Rarely agouty

noun

agoutis, plural agouties plural

1. any of several short-haired, short-eared, rabbitlike rodents of the genus Dasyprocta, of South and Central America and the West Indies, destructive to sugarcane.

2. an irregularly barred pattern of the fur of certain rodents.

3. an animal having fur of this pattern.

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agouti British  

/ əˈɡuːtɪ /

noun

1. any hystricomorph rodent of the genus Dasyprocta, of Central and South America and the Caribbean: family Dasyproctidae. Agoutis are agile and long-legged, with hooflike claws, and are valued for their meat

2. a pattern of fur in certain rodents, characterized by irregular stripes

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• agoutis
  plural
• agouties
  plural

Etymology

Origin of agouti

First recorded in 1725–35; from French, from Spanish agutí, from Tupian agutí, agoutí, acutí

Example Sentences

Agouti was previously known to be a simple dominant to black, i.e. an agouti is a black rabbit plus an additional greying factor which modifies the black into agouti.

From Mendelism Third Edition by Punnett, Reginald Crundall

Where the Bizcacha lives and makes its burrows, the Agouti uses them; but where, as at Bahia Blanca, the Bizcacha is not found, the Agouti burrows for itself.

From The Voyage of the Beagle by Darwin, Charles

Agouti, a-gōō′ti, n. a small South American rodent allied to the guinea-pig.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various

But they eat, I observe, a very large proportion of fat, which is of a less animalized nature; and they particularly dislike dry meat, such as that of the Agouti.

From The Voyage of the Beagle by Darwin, Charles

I have seen it erected on the hairy Ant-eater; and on the Agouti, one of the Rodents.

From The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals by Darwin, Charles