hyaena

[hahy-ee-nuh]

noun

Related formshy·ae·nic, adjective

hyena

or hy·ae·na

[hahy-ee-nuh]

noun

a doglike carnivore of the family Hyaenidae, of Africa, southwestern Asia, and south central Asia, having a coarse coat, a sloping back, and large teeth and feeding chiefly on carrion, often in packs.

Compare brown hyena, spotted hyena, striped hyena.

Origin of hyena

1350–1400; Middle English hiena < Medieval Latin hyēna, Latin hyaena < Greek hýaina, equivalent to hy- (stem of hŷs) hog + -aina feminine suffix; replacing Middle English hyane, hyene < Middle French hiene < Latin

Related formshy·e·nic, hy·e·nine

[hahy-ee-nahyn, -nin] /haɪˈi naɪn, -nɪn/, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for hyaena

Historical Examples of hyaena

He no longer laughed, he was terrible, he went and came; the fox was changed into a hyaena.
Notre-Dame de Paris
Victor Hugo
The presence of the Cave Hyaena does not controvert that conclusion.
Prehistoric Man
W. L. H. Duckworth
Well, we fancied that the cry of the hyaena was a recent invention of our own!
Parisians in the Country
Honore de Balzac
Temminck, its original describer, placed it in the genus Hyaena.
The Cambridge Natural History, Vol X., Mammalia
Frank Evers Beddard
It is only a hyaena, and the hungry fellow has scented a prey.
My Kalulu, Prince, King and Slave
Henry M. Stanley

British Dictionary definitions for hyaena

hyaena

noun

a variant spelling of hyena

Derived Formshyaenic, adjective

hyena

hyaena

noun

any of several long-legged carnivorous doglike mammals of the genera Hyaena and Crocuta, such as C. crocuta (spotted or laughing hyena), of Africa and S Asia: family Hyaenidae, order Carnivora (carnivores)See also strandwolf

Derived Formshyenic or hyaenic, adjective

Word Origin for hyena

C16: from Medieval Latin, from Latin hyaena, from Greek huaina, from hus hog

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for hyaena

hyena

mid-14c., from Old French hiene, from Latin hyaena, from Greek hyaina "swine" (fem.), from hys "pig" + fem. suffix -aina. So called for its bristles. Applied to cruel, treacherous, and greedy persons since at least 1670s. Adjectival forms that have been attempted in English include hyenaish, hyenaesque, hyenic, hyenine.