kinkajou

[ king-kuh-joo ]

noun

1. 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.

kinkajou

/ ˈkɪŋkəˌdʒuː /

noun

1. Also calledhoney bearpotto an arboreal fruit-eating mammal, Potos flavus, of Central and South America, with a long prehensile tail: family Procyonidae (raccoons) order Carnivora (carnivores)

Word History and Origins

Origin of kinkajou¹

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 Ojibwe kwi˙nkwaʔa˙ke˙ a cognate word; carcajou

Word History and Origins

Origin of kinkajou¹

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

Example Sentences

That explains the popularity of exotics like the kinkajou, which looks like a furry human baby, even though it’s closely related to raccoons than to primates.

From Popular-Science

They much resemble the kinkajou in external appearance, but the skull and teeth are more like those of Procyon and Nasua.

From Project Gutenberg

It is also known as the aswail and the honey-bear, the last name being also given to the Malay bear and the kinkajou.

From Project Gutenberg

The Kinkajou (Cercoleptes caudivolvulus) of Demerara belongs to this family.

From Project Gutenberg

This disposition of the generative parts is still further modified in a few animals, such as the Rat and the Kinkajou.

From Project Gutenberg