hiena

See also: hienă, hiéna, hiëna, híena, and hieną

Basque

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *sew-?

Proto-Indo-European *sewH-?

Proto-Indo-European *suH-

Proto-Hellenic *hūs

Ancient Greek ὗς (hûs)

Proto-Indo-European *-nós

Ancient Greek -νος (-nos)

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-ih₂der.

Ancient Greek -ῐᾰ (-ĭă)

Ancient Greek -ῐνᾰ (-ĭnă)der.

Ancient Greek -αινα (-aina)

Ancient Greek ὕαινα (húaina)bor.

Latin hyaenalbor.

Spanish hienabor.

Basque hiena

Borrowed from Spanish hiena, from Latin hyaena, from Ancient Greek ὕαινα (húaina).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Navarro-Lapurdian) /hiena/ [hi.e.na]
• IPA^(key): (Southern) /iena/ [i.e.na]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ena, -a
• Hyphenation: hi‧e‧na

Noun

hiena anim

1. hyena

Declension

Declension of hiena (anim a-stem)

	indefinite	singular	plural	proximal plural
absolutive	hiena	hiena	hienak	hienok
ergative	hienak	hienak	hienek	hienok
dative	hienari	hienari	hienei	hienoi
genitive	hienaren	hienaren	hienen	hienon
comitative	hienarekin	hienarekin	hienekin	hienokin
causative	hienarengatik	hienarengatik	hienengatik	hienongatik
benefactive	hienarentzat	hienarentzat	hienentzat	hienontzat
instrumental	hienaz	hienaz	hienez	hienotaz
inessive	hienarengan	hienarengan	hienengan	hienongan
locative	—	—	—	—
allative	hienarengana	hienarengana	hienengana	hienongana
terminative	hienarenganaino	hienarenganaino	hienenganaino	hienonganaino
directive	hienarenganantz	hienarenganantz	hienenganantz	hienonganantz
destinative	hienarenganako	hienarenganako	hienenganako	hienonganako
ablative	hienarengandik	hienarengandik	hienengandik	hienongandik
partitive	hienarik	—	—	—
prolative	hienatzat	—	—	—

Further reading

• “hiena”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy] (in Basque), Euskaltzaindia [Royal Academy of the Basque Language]

Catalan

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *sew-?

Proto-Indo-European *sewH-?

Proto-Indo-European *suH-

Proto-Hellenic *hūs

Ancient Greek ὗς (hûs)

Proto-Indo-European *-nós

Ancient Greek -νος (-nos)

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-ih₂der.

Ancient Greek -ῐᾰ (-ĭă)

Ancient Greek -ῐνᾰ (-ĭnă)der.

Ancient Greek -αινα (-aina)

Ancient Greek ὕαινα (húaina)bor.

Latin hyaenalbor.

Catalan hiena

Learned borrowing from Latin hyaena, from Ancient Greek ὕαινα (húaina).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern) [ˈje̞.nə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Central) [ˈje.nə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia, Northwestern) [ˈje.na]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

Noun

hiena f (plural hienes)

1. hyena

Further reading

• “hiena”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Galician

Noun

hiena f (plural hienas)

1. hyena

Italian

Noun

hiena f (plural hiene)

1. (obsolete) alternative spelling of iena

Kashubian

hiena

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *sew-?

Proto-Indo-European *sewH-?

Proto-Indo-European *suH-

Proto-Hellenic *hūs

Ancient Greek ὗς (hûs)

Proto-Indo-European *-nós

Ancient Greek -νος (-nos)

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-ih₂der.

Ancient Greek -ῐᾰ (-ĭă)

Ancient Greek -ῐνᾰ (-ĭnă)der.

Ancient Greek -αινα (-aina)

Ancient Greek ὕαινα (húaina)bor.

Latin hyaenalbor.

Polish hienabor.

Kashubian hiena

Borrowed from Polish hiena, a learned borrowing from Latin hyaena.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈxjɛ.na/
• Rhymes: -ɛna
• Syllabification: hie‧na

Noun

hiena f

1. hyena (any carnivore of the subfamily Hyaenidae)

References

• Eùgeniusz Gòłąbk (2011), “hiena”, in Słownik Polsko-Kaszubski / Słowôrz Pòlskò-Kaszëbsczi‎^[1]

Lithuanian

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin hyaena, from Ancient Greek ὕαινα (húaina).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɣʲɪjɛˈnɐ]
• Rhymes: -ɐ
• Syllabification: hi‧e‧nà

Noun

hienà f (plural hiẽnos / hiènos) stress pattern 2

1. hyena

Declension

Declension of hienà

	singular	plural
nominative	hienà	hiẽnos
genitive	hiẽnos	hiẽnų
dative	hiẽnai	hiẽnoms
accusative	hiẽną	hienàs
instrumental	hienà	hiẽnomis
locative	hiẽnoje	hiẽnose
vocative	hiẽna	hiẽnos

or

Declension of hienà

	singular	plural
nominative	hienà	hiènos
genitive	hiènos	hiènų
dative	hiènai	hiènoms
accusative	hièną	hienàs
instrumental	hienà	hiènomis
locative	hiènoje	hiènose
vocative	hièna	hiènos

Further reading

• “hiena”, in Lietuvių kalbos žodynas [Dictionary of the Lithuanian language], lkz.lt, 1941–2026
• “hiena”, in Bendrinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas [Dictionary of common Lithuanian], ekalba.lt, n.d.
• “hiena”, in Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas [Dictionary of contemporary Lithuanian], ekalba.lt, 1954–2026

Middle English

Noun

hiena

1. alternative form of hiene

Polish

hiena

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *sew-?

Proto-Indo-European *sewH-?

Proto-Indo-European *suH-

Proto-Hellenic *hūs

Ancient Greek ὗς (hûs)

Proto-Indo-European *-nós

Ancient Greek -νος (-nos)

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-ih₂der.

Ancient Greek -ῐᾰ (-ĭă)

Ancient Greek -ῐνᾰ (-ĭnă)der.

Ancient Greek -αινα (-aina)

Ancient Greek ὕαινα (húaina)bor.

Latin hyaenalbor.

Polish hiena

Learned borrowing from Latin hyaena, borrowed from Ancient Greek ὕαινα (húaina).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈxjɛ.na/

• Audio 1:

  (file)

• Audio 2:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛna
• Syllabification: hie‧na

Noun

hiena f (related adjective hieni)

1. hyena (any carnivore of the subfamily Hyaenidae)
2. (derogatory, figurative) blackguard, scoundrel (unprincipled, contemptible, and untrustworthy person)

   Synonym: łajdak

Declension

Declension of hiena

	singular	plural
nominative	hiena	hieny
genitive	hieny	hien
dative	hienie	hienom
accusative	hienę	hieny
instrumental	hieną	hienami
locative	hienie	hienach
vocative	hieno	hieny

Derived terms

nouns

• hiena cmentarna

Descendants

• → Kashubian: hiena

Further reading

• “hiena”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[2] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “hiena”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[3] (in Polish)
• hiena in PWN's encyclopedia

Portuguese

hienas (Crocuta crocuta)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *sew-?

Proto-Indo-European *sewH-?

Proto-Indo-European *suH-

Proto-Hellenic *hūs

Ancient Greek ὗς (hûs)

Proto-Indo-European *-nós

Ancient Greek -νος (-nos)

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-ih₂der.

Ancient Greek -ῐᾰ (-ĭă)

Ancient Greek -ῐνᾰ (-ĭnă)der.

Ancient Greek -αινα (-aina)

Ancient Greek ὕαινα (húaina)bor.

Latin hyaenalbor.

Portuguese hiena

Learned borrowing from Latin hyaena, borrowed from Ancient Greek ὕαινα (húaina).

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈjẽ.nɐ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈje.nɐ/

• Audio (Brazil (Caipira)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ẽnɐ, -enɐ
• Hyphenation: hi‧e‧na

Noun

hiena f (plural hienas)

1. hyena

Usage notes

The gender of this Portuguese zoonym is always feminine: when the gender of the being itself must be specified, hiena-macho for male and hiena-fêmea for female. Here, macho is treated as an undeclinable noun and doesn't usually agree in gender with the referent, but it would change to macha if so.

Derived terms

• hiena-caçadora
• hiena-castanha
• hiena-listrada
• hiena-malhada
• hiena-marrom
• hiena-raiada
• hiena-riscada

Further reading

• “hiena”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “hiena”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [hiˈena]

Noun

hiena f

1. definite nominative/accusative singular of hienă

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *sew-?

Proto-Indo-European *sewH-?

Proto-Indo-European *suH-

Proto-Hellenic *hūs

Ancient Greek ὗς (hûs)

Proto-Indo-European *-nós

Ancient Greek -νος (-nos)

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-ih₂der.

Ancient Greek -ῐᾰ (-ĭă)

Ancient Greek -ῐνᾰ (-ĭnă)der.

Ancient Greek -αινα (-aina)

Ancient Greek ὕαινα (húaina)bor.

Latin hyaenalbor.

Spanish hiena

Learned borrowing from Latin hyaena.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ˈʝena/ [ˈɟ͡ʝe.na]

• IPA^(key): /ˈʝena/ [ˈɟ͡ʝe.na] (everywhere but Pampas and southern Argentina and Uruguay)
• IPA^(key): /ˈjena/ [ˈje.na] (Pampas and southern Argentina, Uruguay)

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ena
• Syllabification: hie‧na

Noun

hiena f (plural hienas)

1. hyena

Derived terms

• hiena moteada

Further reading

• “hiena”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025