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  • vicuna
    vicuna
    noun
    a wild South American ruminant, Vicugna vicugna, of the Andes, related to the guanaco but smaller, and yielding a soft, delicate wool: an endangered species, now increasing in numbers.
  • vicuña
    vicuña
    noun
    a tawny-coloured cud-chewing Andean artiodactyl mammal, Vicugna vicugna, similar to the llama: family Camelidae

vicuna

American  
[vahy-koo-nuh, -kyoo-, vi-, vi-koo-nyuh] / vaɪˈku nə, -ˈkyu-, vɪ-, vɪˈku nyə /
Or vicuña

noun

  1. a wild South American ruminant, Vicugna vicugna, of the Andes, related to the guanaco but smaller, and yielding a soft, delicate wool: an endangered species, now increasing in numbers.

  2. a fabric of this wool or of some substitute, usually twilled and finished with a soft nap.

  3. a garment, especially an overcoat, of vicuna.


vicuña British  
/ vɪˈkjuːnə, vɪˈkuːnjə /

noun

  1. a tawny-coloured cud-chewing Andean artiodactyl mammal, Vicugna vicugna, similar to the llama: family Camelidae

  2. the fine light cloth made from the wool obtained from this animal

"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

Etymology

Origin of vicuna

1585–95; < Spanish vicuña < Quechua wik’uña

Vocabulary lists containing vicuna

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Fashionistas who purchase the gray, black, new vicuna or cream/beige coat on Black Friday get to save $213.

From Fox News • Nov. 26, 2021

They are not committed to a two-season cycle, private planes and yachts, sable and vicuna.

From New York Times • Sep. 5, 2019

Outfits were prevalently in wool white, melange grey and vicuna beige, dotted with browns, greys, petrol blue a pond green.

From Reuters • Jan. 13, 2017

The shawls were made of cashmere-like vicuna wool.

From Washington Times • Nov. 20, 2016

A similar problem has frustrated schemes to breed the vicuna, an Andean wild camel whose wool is prized as the finest and lightest of any animal’s.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

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