mongoose

American  

[mong-goos, mon-] / ˈmɒŋˌgus, ˈmɒn- /

noun

• mongooses
  plural

1. a slender, ferretlike carnivore, Herpestes edwardsi, of India, that feeds on rodents, birds, and eggs, noted especially for its ability to kill cobras and other venomous snakes.

2. any of several other animals of this genus or related genera.

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mongoose British  

/ ˈmɒŋˌɡuːs /

noun

1. any small predatory viverrine mammal of the genus Herpestes and related genera, occurring in Africa and from S Europe to SE Asia, typically having a long tail and brindled coat

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Usage

Plural word for mongoose The plural form of mongoose is mongooses (not mongeese). The plurals of some other singular words that end in -oose are also formed this way, including caboose/cabooses and papoose/papooses. The plural mongooses is confusing because the plural of goose is the irregular form geese, which derives directly from its original pluralization in Old English. However, the term mongoose only uses the standard English plural -s ending.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• mongooses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of mongoose

1690–1700; < Marathi mangūs, variant of muṅgūs

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mongoose mongooses

However, unrestrained hunting, habitat loss and predation by the invasive mongoose left fewer than 30 in the wild by 1952.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2025

Thankfully, the mongoose rampage isn’t targeting humans, though they aren’t above ground-based kitchen invasions when pushed into an environmental threat, and their toxic bites can quickly become lethal.

From Salon ● Apr. 15, 2024

Instead, they clung to their version of the facts—that a talking mongoose had taken up residence in their abode and entered an unlikely friendship with them.

From National Geographic ● Sep. 19, 2023

Meerkats, slender-tailed creatures with pointy faces, are members of the mongoose family and are native to Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

From New York Times ● Jun. 15, 2023

All God’s creatures have names, whether they slither across our path or show up for sale at our front stoop: bushbuck, mongoose, tarantula, cobra, the red-and-black monkey called ngonndo, geckos scurrying up the walls.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

In our romantic life, we more closely resemble these social, close-knit mongooses than we do our primate cousins, a "league table" of monogamy compiled by scientists suggests.

From BBC ● Dec. 10, 2025

On the course, elaborate tombs of the city's past rulers poke through tangled trees that are home to peacocks, troops of monkeys and mongooses.

From Barron's ● Oct. 18, 2025

Dwarf mongooses are Africa's smallest carnivore, living in cooperatively breeding, territorial groups of 5-30 individuals.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 14, 2023

This arrangement can lead to inbreeding, but female dwarf mongooses have found a simple yet clever way around this problem: look for mates in nearby groups.

From Scientific American ● Apr. 15, 2022

There were four kinds of monkeys in addition to the baboons, and many smaller animals such as squirrels and mongooses.

From "My Life with the Chimpanzees" by Jane Goodall