tuco-tuco

American  

[too-koh-too-koh] / ˈtu koʊˈtu koʊ /

noun

plural

tuco-tucos

1. any of several burrowing rodents of the genus Ctenomys, of South America, resembling the pocket gopher.

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Etymology

Origin of tuco-tuco

First recorded in 1835–45; from Latin American Spanish tucotuco, imitative of its cry

Example Sentences

Other specimens belonged to an extinct species of tuco-tuco which grew as large as current-day capybaras.

From Salon • Sep. 7, 2024

It was a kind of large drone, an inch long, and the Indians call it "tuco-tuco."

From In Search of the Castaways; or the Children of Captain Grant by Verne, Jules

The other opossum is the black and white Didelphys azarae; and it is indeed strange to find this animal on the pampas, although its presence there is not so mysterious as that of the tuco-tuco.

From The Naturalist in La Plata by Hudson, W. H. (William Henry)

It is called tuco-tuco from its voice, and oculto from its habits; for it is a dweller underground, and requires a loose, sandy soil in which, like the mole, it may swim beneath the surface.

From The Naturalist in La Plata by Hudson, W. H. (William Henry)