pika

[ pahy-kuh ]

/ ˈpaɪ kə /

Save This Word!

noun

any of several small, brown to gray tailless mammals of the genus Ochotona, resembling rabbits with short ears and legs and inhabiting western mountains of North America and parts of eastern Europe and Asia.

QUIZ

CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?

There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?

Question 1 of 7

Which sentence is correct?

His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of pika

1820–30; recorded by the German naturalist P.S. Pallas (1741–1811) as the name for the animal in Evenki; compare Evenki (N Baikal dial.) pikačān a name for the tree creeper (Certhia familiaris), apparently based on Russian píkatʾ to squeak, peep (compare Russian pishchúkha a name for both the tree creeper and the pika, which emits a shrill sound)

Words nearby pika

pig-tailed macaque, pigtail hook, pigweed, pihoihoi, PIK, pika, pikake, pikau, pike, pikeblenny, piked dogfish

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use pika in a sentence

At those temps, the grass that pikas usually eat becomes dry and brittle.
Some pikas survive winter by eating yak poop|Jonathan Lambert|September 3, 2021|Science News For Students
It would greatly cut down how long pikas needed to spend out in the cold, Speakman says.
Some pikas survive winter by eating yak poop|Jonathan Lambert|September 3, 2021|Science News For Students
To conserve energy, plateau pikas drop their metabolism by about 30 percent.
Some pikas survive winter by eating yak poop|Jonathan Lambert|September 3, 2021|Science News For Students
The researchers caught pikas scarfing scat on video, and DNA evidence from stomach contents solidified that this behavior is common.
Pikas survive winter using a slower metabolism and, at times, yak poop|Jonathan Lambert|July 19, 2021|Science News

In slide rock and in bouldery moraines up as high as thirteen thousand feet, one finds the pika, or cony.
The Rocky Mountain Wonderland|Enos A. Mills
And that is how Little Chief the Pika learned to make hay while the sun shone in the days of plenty.
Mother West Wind "Where" Stories|Thornton W. Burgess
On the wildest and most desolate peaks and rock piles is found the cony or pika or "rock rabbit" as it is variously called.
The Lake of the Sky|George Wharton James
Sense of smell was used by an M. e. muricus that Dixon (1931:72) watched as the ermine followed a three-fourths-grown pika.
American Weasels|E. Raymond Hall
The pikas worked a relay system and the weasel abandoned the trail when the fourth pika became the object of the chase.
American Weasels|E. Raymond Hall

British Dictionary definitions for pika

pika

/ (ˈpaɪkə) /

noun

any burrowing lagomorph mammal of the family Ochotonidae of mountainous regions of North America and Asia, having short rounded ears, a rounded body, and rudimentary tailAlso called: cony

Word Origin for pika

C19: from Tungusic piika

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