Meerschweinchen

German

Etymology

From Meer (“sea”) +‎ Schwein (“pig, swine”) +‎ -chen (diminutive suffix), literally “little sea pig”, or from Meerschwein +‎ -chen. The use of Meer refers to the animal as coming from overseas.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmeːɐ̯ˌʃvaɪ̯nçn̩/, /ˈmeːɐ̯ˌʃvaɪ̯nçən/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Meer‧schwein‧chen

Noun

Meerschweinchen n (strong, genitive Meerschweinchens, plural Meerschweinchen)

1. guinea pig, cavy

Declension

Declension of Meerschweinchen [neuter, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Meerschweinchen	die	Meerschweinchen
genitive	eines	des	Meerschweinchens	der	Meerschweinchen
dative	einem	dem	Meerschweinchen	den	Meerschweinchen
accusative	ein	das	Meerschweinchen	die	Meerschweinchen

Derived terms

• Nacktmeerschweinchen (“skinny pig”)

Related terms

• (usually diminutive) Meerschwein (“guinea pig”)

Further reading

• “Meerschweinchen” in Duden online
• “Meerschweinchen”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[1] (in German)