hamster

See also: Hamster, hámster, hàmster, and hâmster

English

Campbell's dwarf hamster (Cricetiscus campbelli)

Alternative forms

• hampster (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from German Hamster (see for etymology). Displaced earlier term German rat.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈhæm(p)stə/
• (Standard Southern British, Northern England, Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈham(p)stə/

  • Audio (Standard Southern British):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈhæm(p)stɚ/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈham(p)stəɾ/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛm(p)stə/

Noun

hamster (plural hamsters)

1. Any of various Old World rodent species belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae.

   The hamster stuffed his puffy cheeks with food.

   • 2013, George deStevens, Ernst Jucker, V. Zingel, Progress in Drug Research, page 166:

     Since the pregnancy interceptive agents or the menses regulators may also influence the development of either trophoblasts or the maternal cells (epithelial and stromal) at the embryo attachment site, another in vitro assay method using using trophoblast cells of hamster and mouse isolated from a preplacental organelle, the ectoplacental cone, has been developed.

   1. In particular, a rodent of the species Mesocricetus auratus (the golden hamster) or of a species of the genera Cricetiscus and Phodopus (the dwarf hamsters), often kept as a pet or used in scientific research.
2. Any of various other rodents of similar appearance, such as the maned hamster or crested hamster, Lophiomys imhausi, mouse-like hamsters of genus Calomyscus, and the white-tailed rat (Mystromys albicaudatus).

Synonyms

• (golden hamster): Syrian hamster

Derived terms

• antihamster
• Chinese hamster
• Chinese hamster ovary cell
• Djungarian hamster
• Dzungarian hamster
• golden hamster
• hammy
• hamster ball
• hamsterer
• hamstering
• hamsterization
• hamsterless
• hamsterlike
• hamster style
• hamster wheel
• hamstery
• idea hamster
• mouse-like hamster
• rationalisation hamster
• rationalization hamster
• Russian winter white dwarf hamster
• Siberian dwarf hamster
• Siberian hamster
• winter white Russian hamster

Descendants

• → Cornish: hamster
• → Japanese: ハムスター (hamusutā)
• → Korean: 햄스터 (haemseuteo)
• → Scottish Gaelic: hamstair
• → Tagalog: hamster
• → Thai: แฮมสเตอร์ (hɛms-dtə̂ə)
• → Turkish: hamster

Translations

rodent species belonging to the Cricetinae

• Afrikaans: hamster
• Albanian: hamster
• Altai:

  Southern Altai: эрлен (erlen)

• Arabic: قَدَاد m (qadād), هَامِسْتَر m (hāmistar)

  Egyptian Arabic: هَامِسْتَر m (hamestar)

• Armenian: համստեր (hy) (hamster)
• Azerbaijani: dağsiçanı
• Bashkir: алйырҙан (alyırźan), ирлән (irlən)
• Basque: hamster (eu)
• Belarusian: хамя́к m (xamják)
• Breton: hamster
• Bulgarian: хомя́к (bg) m (homják), ха́мстер m (hámster)
• Burmese: ဟမ်းစတား (ham:ca.ta:)
• Catalan: hàmster (ca) m
• Chechen: оьпа (öpa)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 倉鼠 / 仓鼠 (zh) (cāngshǔ)

• Cornish: hamster m
• Czech: křeček (cs) m
• Dalmatian: viala f
• Danish: hamster (da) c
• Dutch: hamster (nl) m
• Esperanto: hamstro
• Estonian: hamster (et)
• Faroese: hamstur m, hamstrari m
• Finnish: hamsteri (fi)
• French: hamster (fr) m, rat de blé m
• Frisian:

  West Frisian: hamster

• Friulian: cricęt
• Galician: hámster (gl)
• Georgian: ზაზუნა (ka) (zazuna)
• German: Hamster (de) m
• Greek: χάμστερ (el) n (chámster)
• Hebrew: אוֹגֵר (he) m (ogér)
• Hindi: हैम्स्टर m (haimsṭar)
• Hungarian: hörcsög (hu)
• Icelandic: hamstur (is) m
• Ido: hamstro (io)
• Indonesian: hamster
• Interlingua: hamster
• Irish: hamstar
• Italian: criceto (it) m
• Japanese: ハムスター (ja) (hamusutā), 絹毛鼠 (きぬげねずみ, kinugenezumi), キヌゲネズミ (kinugenezumi)
• Karakalpak: balpaq tıshqan
• Kazakh: атжалман (atjalman)
• Korean: 햄스터 (ko) (haemseuteo), 뵤 (byo)
• Kumyk: авлакъ чычкъан (awlaq çıçqan)
• Kyrgyz: хомяк (homyak)
• Latvian: kāmis m
• Lithuanian: žiurkėnas m
• Macedonian: хрчак m (hrčak)
• Malay: tikus belanda
• Maltese: ħamster
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: арлан (arlan), комаголя (komagoĺa)

  Western Mari: ӓрлӓн (ärlän), ӓрлӓнгы (ärlängy)

• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: үхэр зусаг (üxer zusag), шишүүхэй (mn) (šišüüxej)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hamster (no) m

  Nynorsk: hamster m

• Occitan: amstèr
• Old East Slavic: хомѣкъ (xoměkŭ)
• Persian: همستر (hamestar), موش بزرگ (muš-e bozorg)
• Polish: chomik (pl) m

  Old Polish: krzeczek m, skrzeczek m

• Portuguese: hamster (pt) m
• Romanian: hamster (ro), hârciog (ro)
• Romansh: furmanter, raffun, raspun
• Russian: хомя́к (ru) m (xomják)
• Scottish Gaelic: hamstair m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: хр́чак m

  Latin: hŕčak (sh) m

• Slovak: škrečok (sk) m
• Slovene: hrček (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: zemcygaŕ m

  Upper Sorbian: žurk m

• Spanish: hámster (es) m
• Swedish: hamster (sv)
• Tagalog: hamster
• Tajik: миримӯшон (mirimüšon)
• Tatar: әрлән (tt) (ärlän)
• Thai: แฮมสเตอร์ (hɛms-dtə̂ə)
• Turkish: hamster (tr)
• Ukrainian: хом'я́к m (xomʺják)
• Uzbek: ogʻmaxon (uz)
• Vietnamese: chuột ham-tơ, ham-tơ
• Volapük: kriset (vo)
• Welsh: bochdew

See also

• gerbil
• guinea pig
• mouse
• rat

Verb

hamster (third-person singular simple present hamsters, present participle hamstering, simple past and past participle hamstered)

1. (ambitransitive) To secrete or store privately, as a hamster does with food in its cheek pouches.

   Synonym: stash

   • 1974, Phyllis Knight, Rolf Knight, A Very Ordinary Life, page 43:

     Probably the city government knew that without that hamstering half the city would starve and they somehow got the police to lay off. It was in the little stinky one-horse towns that you had all the trouble.

   • 2004, Sharon L. Pywell, What Happened to Henry, page 50:

     […] in his bedroom in neat stacks — he always hamstered them away upstairs as soon as the morning was done. This year the gifts sat ignored […]

   • 2014, Edith Sheffer, Burned Bridge: How East and West Germans Made the Iron Curtain:

     […] eastern children frequently “hamstered,” smuggled, and begged across the boundary, especially after currency reform […]

Translations

to stash like a hamster, to hoard

• Dutch: hamsteren (nl)
• German: hamstern (de)
• Luxembourgish: hamsteren
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hamstre (no)

  Nynorsk: hamstra

• Russian: хомячить (ru) (xomjačitʹ)
• Swedish: hamstra (sv)

Further reading

• hamster on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Golden hamster on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• hamster in Mammal Species of the World^[1] at Bucknell.

Anagrams

• Amherst, harmest

Cornish

Hamster

Etymology

Borrowed from English hamster.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhamstɛɹ/

Noun

hamster m (plural hamsters)

1. hamster

Danish

Etymology

From German Hamster.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈhɑmˀsd̥ɐ]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

hamster c (singular definite hamsteren, plural indefinite hamstere)

1. a hamster

Declension

Declension of hamster

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	hamster	hamsteren	hamstere	hamsterne
genitive	hamsters	hamsterens	hamsteres	hamsternes

References

• “hamster” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɦɑmstər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ham‧ster

Etymology 1

Borrowed from German Hamster.

Noun

hamster m (plural hamsters, diminutive hamstertje n)

1. hamster

Derived terms

• dwerghamster
• goudhamster
• hamsterbal
• hamsteren
• hamstermolen

Descendants

• → Papiamentu: hamster

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

hamster

1. inflection of hamsteren:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

French

Etymology

Borrowed from German Hamster and ultimately of Balto-Slavic origin.

Pronunciation

• ^{(aspirated h)} IPA^(key): /am.stɛʁ/

  • Audio (France (Paris)); “un hamster”:

    (file)

  • Audio (France (Vosges)):

    (file)

  • Audio (France (Somain)):

    (file)

• (Quebec) IPA^(key): /am.stɚ/

  • Audio (Quebec):

    (file)

Noun

hamster m (plural hamsters)

1. hamster

Further reading

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

German

Verb

hamster

1. singular imperative of hamstern

Middle High German

Etymology

Inherited from Old High German hamustro.

Noun

hamster m

1. hamster

Declension

Declension of hamster (strong masculine without umlaut)

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	dër	hamster	die	hamster, hamstere
genitive	eines	dës	hamsters, hamsteres	dër	hamster, hamstere
dative	eime	dëm	hamster, hamstere	dën	hamstern, hamsteren
accusative	einen	dën	hamster	die	hamster, hamstere

Descendants

• Central Franconian:
  • Hunsrik: Hamster
• German: Hamster (see there for further descendants)

References

• Köbler, Gerhard (2014), “hamster”, in Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch‎^[2] (in German), 3rd edition

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From German Hamster.

Noun

hamster m (definite singular hamsteren, indefinite plural hamstere or hamstre or hamstrer, definite plural hamsterne or hamstrene)

1. a hamster

References

• “hamster” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From German Hamster.

Noun

hamster m (definite singular hamsteren, indefinite plural hamsterar, definite plural hamsterane)

1. a hamster

References

• “hamster” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• hámster (Portugal)
• hâmster (Brazil)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Slavic *xoměstorъ

Old East Slavic хомѣсторъ (xoměstorŭ)bor.

Old High German hamustro

Middle High German hamster

German Hamsterubor.

Portuguese hamster

Unadapted borrowing from German Hamster and ultimately of Balto-Slavic origin.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʁɐ̃.mis.teʁ/ [ˈhɐ̃.mis.teh], /ˈʁɐms.teʁ/ [ˈhɐms.teh]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʁɐ̃.mis.teʁ/ [ˈhɐ̃.mis.teh], /ˈʁɐms.teʁ/ [ˈhɐms.teh]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ˈʁɐ̃.mis.teɾ/ [ˈhɐ̃.mis.teɾ], /ˈʁɐms.teɾ/ [ˈhɐms.teɾ]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈʁɐ̃.miʃ.teʁ/ [ˈχɐ̃.miʃ.teχ], /ˈʁɐmʃ.teʁ/ [ˈχɐmʃ.teχ]
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /ˈʁɐ̃.mis.teɻ/ [ˈhɐ̃.mis.teɻ], /ˈʁɐms.teɻ/ [ˈhɐms.teɻ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʁɐms.teʁ/ [ˈhɐms.teh], /ˈʁɐ.mis.teʁ/ [ˈhɐ.mis.teh]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈɐms.tɛɾ/, /ˈɐmʃ.tɛɾ/

Noun

hamster m (plural hamsters)

1. hamster (small, short-tailed European rodent)

Further reading

• “hamster”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “hámster”, in Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisboa: Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, 2001–2026
• “hámster”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
• “hamster”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026
• “hamster”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2026, →ISBN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Hamster.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈham.ster/

Noun

hamster m (plural hamsteri)

1. hamster

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	hamster	hamsterul	hamsteri	hamsterii
genitive-dative	hamster	hamsterului	hamsteri	hamsterilor
vocative	hamsterule		hamsterilor

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from German Hamster.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈxamsteɾ/ [ˈxãms.t̪eɾ]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -amsteɾ
• Syllabification: hams‧ter

Noun

hamster m (plural hamsters)

1. alternative form of hámster

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Further reading

• Seco, Manuel; Andrés, Olimpia; Ramos, Gabino (2023), “hamster”, in Diccionario del español actual (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA

Swedish

en hamster

Etymology

From German Hamster and ultimately of Balto-Slavic origin.

Noun

hamster c

1. hamster

   Hamstern sprang i hjulet

   The hamster was running in the wheel

Declension

Declension of hamster

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	hamster	hamsters
	definite	hamstern	hamsterns
plural	indefinite	hamstrar	hamstrars
	definite	hamstrarna	hamstrarnas

Related terms

• guldhamster
• hamsterbur
• hamsterhjul
• hamstra
• hamstrare
• hamstring

References

• “hamster”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “hamster”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “hamster”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• Svensk MeSH

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from English hamster.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈhamsteɾ/ [ˈhams.t̪ɛɾ]
• Rhymes: -amsteɾ
• Syllabification: hams‧ter

Noun

hamster (Baybayin spelling ᜑᜋ᜔ᜐ᜔ᜆᜒᜇ᜔)

1. hamster
   • 1996, Emmanuel A. Reyes, Malikhaing pelikula: mga sanaysay tungkol sa pelikulang Pilipino:

     Ilalagay ni PAUL ang retrato ni Ferdinand at Imelda Marcos sa likod ng kulungan ng mga hamster.

     PAUL will place the picture of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos behind the hamster cage.

   • 2020, TINA LATA, The Good Girl's Revenge:

     Kung may nasabi man akong hindi maganda, bakit hindi niya sabihin sa 'kin? Hindi naman ako manghuhula para malaman kung anong problema niya. Tiningnan ko 'yong hamster na gusto kong bilhin pero naisip ko si Tammy.

     If I said something bad, why didn't she tell me? I'm not going to guess what her problem is. I looked at the hamster I wanted to buy but I thought of Tammy.

Turkish

Etymology

From English hamster.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈhɑm.s(ɯ)tæɾ]
• Hyphenation: hams‧ter

Noun

hamster (definite accusative hamsteri, plural hamsterler)

1. hamster

Declension

Declension of hamster

singular plural nominative hamster hamsterler definite accusative hamsteri hamsterleri dative hamstere hamsterlere locative hamsterde hamsterlerde ablative hamsterden hamsterlerden genitive hamsterin hamsterlerin Possessive forms nominative singular plural 1st singular hamsterim hamsterlerim 2nd singular hamsterin hamsterlerin 3rd singular hamsteri hamsterleri 1st plural hamsterimiz hamsterlerimiz 2nd plural hamsteriniz hamsterleriniz 3rd plural hamsterleri hamsterleri definite accusative singular plural 1st singular hamsterimi hamsterlerimi 2nd singular hamsterini hamsterlerini 3rd singular hamsterini hamsterlerini 1st plural hamsterimizi hamsterlerimizi 2nd plural hamsterinizi hamsterlerinizi 3rd plural hamsterlerini hamsterlerini dative singular plural 1st singular hamsterime hamsterlerime 2nd singular hamsterine hamsterlerine 3rd singular hamsterine hamsterlerine 1st plural hamsterimize hamsterlerimize 2nd plural hamsterinize hamsterlerinize 3rd plural hamsterlerine hamsterlerine locative singular plural 1st singular hamsterimde hamsterlerimde 2nd singular hamsterinde hamsterlerinde 3rd singular hamsterinde hamsterlerinde 1st plural hamsterimizde hamsterlerimizde 2nd plural hamsterinizde hamsterlerinizde 3rd plural hamsterlerinde hamsterlerinde ablative singular plural 1st singular hamsterimden hamsterlerimden 2nd singular hamsterinden hamsterlerinden 3rd singular hamsterinden hamsterlerinden 1st plural hamsterimizden hamsterlerimizden 2nd plural hamsterinizden hamsterlerinizden 3rd plural hamsterlerinden hamsterlerinden genitive singular plural 1st singular hamsterimin hamsterlerimin 2nd singular hamsterinin hamsterlerinin 3rd singular hamsterinin hamsterlerinin 1st plural hamsterimizin hamsterlerimizin 2nd plural hamsterinizin hamsterlerinizin 3rd plural hamsterlerinin hamsterlerinin