civet

See also: civět

English

African civet

Alternative forms

• civet cat

Etymology

From French civette, from Italian zibetto, from Medieval Latin zibethum, from Arabic زَبَاد (zabād).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪ.vɪt/

Noun

civet (countable and uncountable, plural civets)

1. (countable) A carnivorous catlike animal, , that produces a musky secretion. It is two to three feet long, with black bands and spots on the body and tail.
2. (uncountable) The musky perfume produced by the animal.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 3 Scene 2

     LEONATO. Indeed he looks younger than he did, by the loss of a beard.

     DON PEDRO. Nay, a' rubs himself with civet: can you smell him out by that?

     CLAUDIO. That's as much as to say the sweet youth's in love.

   • 1607, [attributed to Thomas Tomkis], Lingva: Or The Combat of the Tongue, and the Five Senses for Superiority. A Pleasant Comœdie., London: Printed by G[eorge] Eld, for Simon Waterson, →OCLC, Act IV, scene iii:

     Your onely way to make a good pomander, is this. Take an ownce of the pureſt garden mould, clenſed and ſteeped ſeauen daies in change of motherleſſe roſe water, then take the beſt Labdanum, Benioine, both Storaxes, amber greece, and Ciuet, and muſke, incorporate them together, and work them into what form you pleaſe; this, if your breath bee not to valiant, will make you ſmell as ſweete as my Ladies dogge.

3. Any animal in the family Viverridae or the similar family
4. (countable, US) Any of several species of spotted skunk, in the genus Spilogale.

Derived terms

• palm civet

Translations

cat-like animal

• Assamese: জহামলা (zôhamola), জহামাল (zôhamal)
• Bau Bidayuh: musang
• Bulgarian: цибет m (cibet)
• Catalan: civeta (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 麝貓／麝猫 (zh) (shèmāo), 麝猫 (zh) (shèmāo), 麝香貓／麝香猫 (zh) (shèxiāngmāo), 麝香猫 (zh) (shèxiāngmāo), 靈貓／灵猫 (zh) (língmāo), 灵猫 (zh) (língmāo)

• Czech: cibetka (cs) f
• Dutch: civetkat (nl) f
• Esperanto: zibeto
• Finnish: sivettikissa (fi), sivetti
• French: civette (fr) f
• Georgian: აფრიკული ვივერა (apriḳuli vivera), ციბეტა (cibeṭa), ციბეტინი (cibeṭini)
• German: Zibetkatze f
• Greek: μοσχογαλή η κιβέττη f (moschogalí i kivétti)
• Gujarati: જબાદી બિલાડી (jabādī bilāḍī)
• Indonesian: musang (id)
• Italian: zibetto (it) m
• Japanese: 麝香猫 (ja) (じゃこうねこ, jakōneko), 霊猫 (れいびょう, reibyō)
• Javanese: rasé
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Khmer: សំពោច (km) (sɑmpouc)
• Kimaragang: kaka'a
• Korean: 사향고양이 (sahyanggoyang'i)
• Lithuanian: civeta f
• Malagasy: alazy (mg)
• Malay: musang, luak (ms)
• Navajo: dlǫ́ʼiitsoh łikizhígíí
• Persian: گربه زباد (gorbe-ye zabâd), زباد (fa) (zabâd)
• Portuguese: civeta (pt) f, gato-de-algália (pt) m
• Romanian: zibetă (ro) f
• Russian: виве́рра (ru) f (vivérra), циве́тта (ru) f (civétta)
• Sebop: pugah
• Spanish: civeta f
• Swahili: ngawa
• Tagal Murut: binangki', munin
• Tagalog: alamid (tl)
• Telugu: పునుగుపిల్లి (te) (punugupilli)
• Thai: ชะมด (chá-mót)
• Vietnamese: cầy
• West Coast Bajau: puju

perfume

• Assamese: জহামলা (zôhamola), জহামাল (zôhamal)
• Catalan: algàlia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 麝貓香／麝猫香, 麝猫香 (shèmāoxiāng)

• Finnish: sivetti
• Greek: μόσχος (el) m (móschos)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Javanese: dhèdhès (jv)
• Persian: زباد (fa) (zabâd), غالیه (fa) (ğâliye)
• Portuguese: algália (pt) f
• Russian: цибети́н (ru) m (cibetín)
• Spanish: almizcle (es) m
• Swahili: zabadi (sw)

Anagrams

• evict

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Dalmatian

Etymology

Compare Italian civetta, Romansch tschuetta, French chouette.

Noun

civet m

1. owl
2. burrowing owl

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French

Etymology

cive +‎ -et

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /si.vɛ/

Noun

civet m (plural civets)

1. (cuisine) ragout of hare, rabbit or wild mammal, with red wine and onions, bound with the animal’s blood.

Further reading

• “civet”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.