cavy
Americannoun
plural
caviesnoun
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.
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
The other half heard anthropomorphized language, like “Mother cavy tucks her babies into bed in a small cave.”
From Scientific American • Apr. 8, 2014
At night, Mother cavy tucks her babies in to bed in a small cave.
From Scientific American • Mar. 27, 2014
Mother cavy and her babies spend the rest of the day lying in the sun.
From Scientific American • Mar. 27, 2014
Of the last family, Caviidæ, the cavy and the capybara are well known to travellers in South America, and the common guinea pig is familiar to us all.
From Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon by Sterndale, Robert Armitage
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.