cheetah

English

Cheetah

Alternative forms

• chetah, cheeta (archaic)

Etymology

Borrowed from Hindi चीता (cītā, “leopard, panther”), ultimately from Sanskrit चित्र (citra, “multicolored, speckled”) (akin to Old High German haitar (“bright”) > German heiter; Old Norse heiðr (“bright”)) + Sanskrit काय (kāya, “body”), thus “having a spotted body”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃiːtə/, /ˈt͡ʃiːtɑ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːtə
• Homophones: Chita, cheater (in non-rhotic accents)

Noun

cheetah (plural cheetahs)

1. A distinctive member (Acinonyx jubatus) of the cat family, slightly smaller than the leopard, but with proportionately longer limbs and a smaller head; native to Africa and southeast Asia (where it is nearly extinct) and also credited with being the fastest terrestrial animal.

Synonyms

• guepard (archaic), hunting cat, hunting leopard

Derived terms

• American cheetah (†Miracinonyx trumanii)
• do cheetah flips
• king cheetah

Descendants

• → Portuguese: chita
• → Spanish: chita

Translations

Acinonyx jubatus

• Afrikaans: jagluiperd (af)
• Albanian: gepard m
• Amharic: አቦሸማኔ (ʾäbošämane)
• Arabic: فَهْد (ar) m (fahd), شِيتَه f (šītah)
• Armenian: վագրակատու (hy) (vagrakatu), գեպարդ (gepard)
• Assamese: চিতা বাঘ (sita bagh)
• Asturian: guepardu (ast)
• Azerbaijani: çita, gepard, qepard
• Basque: gepardo
• Belarusian: гепа́рд m (hjepárd)
• Bengali: চিতা (cita)
• Bulgarian: гепа́рд (bg) m (gepárd)
• Burmese: သစ်ကျုတ် (my) (sackyut)
• Catalan: guepard
• Cherokee: ᏢᏓᏥ ᎠᎦᏣᏄᎳ (tlvdatsi agatsanula)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 獵豹／猎豹 (zh) (lièbào)

• Czech: gepard m
• Danish: gepard c
• Dutch: jachtluipaard (nl) m or n, cheeta (nl) m
• Egyptian: (ꜣby-mḥw m)
• Esperanto: gepardo
• Estonian: gepard
• Finnish: gepardi (fi)
• French: guépard (fr) m
• Georgian: ავაზა (avaza)
• German: Gepard (de) m
• Greek: γατόπαρδος (el) m (gatópardos), τσιτάχ (el) m (tsitách)
• Gujarati: ચિત્તો (citto)
• Hebrew: בַּרְדְּלָס (he) m (bard'lás), צִ׳יטָה f (chíta)
• Hindi: चीता (hi) m (cītā)
• Hungarian: gepárd (hu)
• Icelandic: blettatígur (is) m
• Ido: gepardo (io)
• Indonesian: cheetah
• Irish: síota m, liopard fiaigh m
• Italian: ghepardo (it) m
• Japanese: チーター (ja) (chītā), 狩猟豹 (しゅりょうひょう, shuryōhyō)
• Kazakh: қабылан (qabylan)
• Khmer: ឆីតា (chəytaa)
• Korean: 치타 (ko) (chita)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: yûzpiling (ku), yûz, çîta (ku)

• Kyrgyz: гепард (ky) (gepard), куулан (kuulan)
• Latvian: gepards m
• Lithuanian: gepardas m
• Macedonian: гепард m (gepard)
• Malay:

  Jawi: چيته

  Rumi: citah

• Maltese: ċita f
• Maori: tīta
• Marathi: चीता m (cītā)
• Middle Persian: 𐭩𐭥𐭮𐭩 (yʿsy /⁠yōz⁠/)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: үчимбэр (üčimber), гепард (gepard)

  Mongolian: ᠦᠴᠢᠮᠪᠡᠷ (üčimber)

• Navajo: náshdóí dilwoʼí
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gepard m

  Nynorsk: gepard m

• Persian: یوزپلنگ (fa) (yuzpalang), چیتا (čitâ), یوز (fa) (yuz)
• Polish: gepard (pl) m
• Portuguese: guepardo (pt) m, chita (pt) f
• Romanian: ghepard (ro) m
• Russian: гепа́рд (ru) m (gepárd)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ге̏па̄рд m

  Roman: gȅpārd (sh) m

• Sinhalese: චීටා (cīṭā)
• Slovak: gepard (sk) m
• Slovene: gẹ̑pard (sl) m
• Somali: harimacad
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: gepard m

• Spanish: guepardo (es) m, chita (es) m
• Swahili: duma (sw)
• Swedish: gepard (sv) c, jaktleopard c
• Tagalog: gepardo
• Tajik: юз (yuz), гепард (gepard)
• Tamil: சிறுத்தை (ta) (ciṟuttai)
• Telugu: చిరుతపులి (te) (cirutapuli), చిరుతగండు (te) (cirutagaṇḍu)
• Thai: ชีตาห์ (chii-dtâa)
• Tibetan: ཤ་གཟིག (sha gzig)
• Tigrinya: ቺታ (čita)
• Turkish: çita (tr)
• Turkmen: geçigaplaň
• Ukrainian: гепа́рд (uk) m (hepárd), ґепа́рд m (gepárd) (rare spelling)
• Urdu: چیتا m (cītā)
• Uzbek: gepard (uz)
• Vietnamese: báo săn, báo bờm, báo ghêpa
• Welsh: llewpart hela m, tsita m
• Wolof: tene mi (wo)

See also

• cheetah on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Acinonyx jubatus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Acinonyx jubatus on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons