kinkajou

[ king-kuh-joo ]
/ ˈkɪŋ kəˌdʒu /

noun

a small, brownish, arboreal mammal, Potos flavus, of Central and South American rainforests, having a prehensile tail and extrudable tongue, related to raccoons and coatis: although kinkajous are sometimes mistaken for similarly featured ferrets, they are not related.

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Also called honey bear .

Origin of kinkajou

First recorded in 1790–1800; from French: literally, “wolverine” (misapplied by Buffon to Potos flavus), earlier Canadian French quincajou, perhaps a conflation of carcajou with Ojibwa kwi˙nkwaʔa˙ke˙ a cognate word; cf. carcajou

Words nearby kinkajou

kininogenase, kink, Kinkaid, Kinkaid Act, Kinkaider, kinkajou, kinkle, kinky, kinky-hair disease, Kinnell, kinnikinnick
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Example sentences from the Web for kinkajou

British Dictionary definitions for kinkajou

kinkajou
/ (ˈkɪŋkəˌdʒuː) /

noun

Also called: honey bear, potto an arboreal fruit-eating mammal, Potos flavus, of Central and South America, with a long prehensile tail: family Procyonidae (raccoons) order Carnivora (carnivores)

Word Origin for kinkajou

C18: from French quincajou, from Algonquian; related to Ojibwa gwĭngwâage wolverine
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