marmot

American  

[mahr-muht] / ˈmɑr mət /

noun

1. any bushy-tailed, stocky rodent of the genus Marmota, as the woodchuck.

2. any of certain related animals, as the prairie dog

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marmot British  

/ ˈmɑːmət /

noun

1. any burrowing sciurine rodent of the genus Marmota, of Europe, Asia, and North America. They are heavily built, having short legs, a short furry tail, and coarse fur

2. another name for prairie dog

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Etymology

Origin of marmot

First recorded in 1600–10; from French marmotte, Old French, apparently noun derivative of marmotter “to mutter, murmur” (referring to the whistling noises made by such animals), equivalent to marm- imitative base denoting a variety of indistinct, continuous sounds + -ot(t)er suffix of expressive verbs (though verb is attested only in modern French ); cf. murmur

Compare meaning

How does marmot compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• marmot vs. woodchuck
• marmot vs. prairie dog

Explanation

A marmot is a furry animal that looks like a very large squirrel. The groundhog is the most solitary member of the marmot family. Marmots are the heaviest members of the squirrel family, weighing as much as 22 pounds. You can find these big rodents all over the Northern Hemisphere, from the French Alps to the steppes of Eurasia. Although groundhogs prefer to keep to themselves, many marmots are quite social. They all have long front teeth that keep growing, requiring them to gnaw constantly, and are herbivores. Marmot is derived from the Latin murem montis, "mountain mouse."

Example Sentences

In other words, we wanted to see whether we could use this index to estimate how long a marmot would live.

From Salon • Oct. 23, 2024

The authors suggest it spilled over to humans, perhaps from a marmot, which are abundant in the Tian Shan mountain region of northern Kyrgyzstan, southern Kazakhstan, and northwestern China.

From Science Magazine • Jun. 15, 2022

Along the way, Barr became an unwitting chronicler of climate change, the amiable keeper of an analog data set that would eventually inform researchers’ papers on hummingbird migration and marmot hibernation.

From Washington Post • Nov. 27, 2021

We received a whistle’s welcome from a marmot, which had just scrambled out from under boulders to get a glimpse of the intruders, only to retreat again.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 3, 2021

His daemon, the marmot, was not blank and incurious as the nurse’s dog had been, but sat politely on his shoulder watching and listening.

From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman