gerbil

English

Alternative forms

• gerble (verb)

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) [etyl] French gerbille, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin gerbo, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Arabic جَرْبُوع (jarbūʕ) or يَرْبُوع (yarbūʕ, “jerboa”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdʒɝbl̩/
• IPA^(key): /ˈdʒɜːbl̩/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Homophone: Dyirbal
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)bəl

Noun

gerbil (plural gerbils)

1. One of several species of small, jumping, murine rodents, of the genus and certain other genera in subfamily Gerbillinae, with leaping powers resembling the jerboa, native to Africa, India, and Southern Europe.

Translations

small rodent

• Bulgarian: пясъчна мишка f (pjasǎčna miška)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 沙鼠 (shāshǔ)

• Danish: ørkenrotte
• Dutch: gerbil (nl) m, springmuis f renmuis f, woestijnrat (nl) f
• Estonian: liivahiir
• Faroese: oyðimørkaíkorn n
• Finnish: gerbilli
• French: gerbille (fr) f
• Galician: xerbo (gl) m
• Georgian: მექვიშიები (mekvišiebi)
• German: Rennmaus f, Wüstenrennmaus f, mongolische Rennmaus f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: futóegér
• Italian: gerbillo (it) m, ratto delle sabbie m
• Japanese: スナネズミ (sunanezumi), ジャービル (jābiru)
• Low German: rennmüüs
• Navajo: hóółtseiigi naʼatsʼǫǫsí
• Polish: myszoskoczek (pl) m, gerbil (pl) m, suwak (pl) m
• Portuguese: gerbilo m
• Romanian: gerbil (ro) m
• Russian: песча́нка (ru) f (pesčánka)
• Spanish: jerbo m, gerbo m, jerbillo m, gerbillo m
• Swedish: ökenråtta (sv) c, gerbil c
• Vietnamese: chuột nhảy

Verb

gerbil (third-person singular simple present gerbils, present participle gerbilling or gerbiling, simple past and past participle gerbilled or gerbiled)

1. (intransitive) To rotate inside a monowheel or similar apparatus due to sudden acceleration or braking.
2. (intransitive, slang) To insert a small animal into one's rectum (a sexual practice in urban myth).

See also

• guinea pig
• hamster
• jerboa
• jird
• mouse
• rat

Anagrams

• Bigler, Bilger, Gibler