cavy
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cavy
1790–1800; < New Latin Cavia name of the genus < Carib ( Galibi ) cabiai
Vocabulary lists containing cavy
South America - Middle School
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South America - Introductory
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South America - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The zoo also has three of the world’s four largest rodents, including the Patagonian cavy, a sweet-tempered mammal that looks like a cross between a jack rabbit and a dog.
From New York Times ● Aug. 1, 2014
Researchers had children aged 1 through 5 look at picture books of a large rodent called a cavy engaged in various activities.
From Scientific American ● Apr. 8, 2014
When the mother cavy wakes up, she usually eats lots of grass and other plants.
From Scientific American ● Mar. 27, 2014
Mother cavy and her babies like to spend the afternoon sunbathing.
From Scientific American ● Mar. 27, 2014
In like manner, in the Pampas of South America the skeletons of Megatherium, Megalonyx, Glyptodon, Mylodon, Toxodon, Macrauchenia, and other extinct forms, are analogous to the living sloth, armadillo, cavy, capybara, and llama.
From The Student's Elements of Geology by Lyell, Charles, Sir
Since taking over as zoo curator two years ago, Dr. Valitutto has brought in such animals as Patagonian cavies, a cassowary and a capybara, more than doubling the collection of animals, to 1,500.
From New York Times ● Aug. 1, 2014
Then the mother cavy feeds her baby cavies.
From Scientific American ● Mar. 27, 2014
“I will feed some to my baby cavies too!” she says.
From Scientific American ● Mar. 27, 2014
Even the captive-raised cavies had higher levels of norepinephrine and epinephrine from the get-go.
From Scientific American ● Apr. 12, 2011
Neither cavies nor rabbits are especially intelligent but they do learn to know their master or at least the one who feeds them.
From Outdoor Sports and Games by Miller, Claude H.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.