iguana

English

Marine iguanas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus)

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish iguana, from Taíno *iwana.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪ.ɡjuˈɑːnə/, /ɪˈɡwɑːnə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) enPR: ĭ-gwäʹ-nə, IPA^(key): /ɪˈɡwɑnə/, /əˈɡwɑnə/
• Rhymes: -ɑːnə

Noun

iguana (plural iguanas)

1. A green iguana (Iguana iguana), a large tropical American lizard often kept as a pet.
   • 2015, Rachel Smith, John Davidson, Lizards For Kids, page 18:

     The problem with keeping the green iguana as a pet is that they are often misfed. For example, some will feed them meat or meat-based foods […]

2. (zoology) Any member of the genus Iguana.
3. (colloquial) In America and the Pacific, any of several members of the lizard family Iguanidae.
   • 1991, Martha Holmes, Sea Trek, BBC Books, page 44:

     Marine iguanas line the shores of the islands, and are usually seen sprawled over lava rocks near the sea.

4. (colloquial) In Africa, any large member of the genus Varanus, especially the aquatic Nile monitor (see leguan).
5. (Australia, formerly) Any member of the genus Varanus (see goanna).
   • 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 161:

     The last they had had, was an iguana one of the blacks had brought in; and though he felt disgusted at the idea of eating it, he made up into a kind of stew, and they both enjoyed it immensely.

Coordinate terms

• (collective noun) slaughter

Derived terms

• American iguana (Iguana iguana)
• black iguana (Ctenosaura similis)
• black spiny-tailed iguana (Ctenosaura similis)
• blue iguana (Cyclura lewisi)
• desert iguana (Dipsosaurus dorsalis)
• eastern casquehead iguana (Laemanctus longipes)
• Fiji banded iguana (Brachylophus fasciatus)
• Fiji crested iguana (Brachylophus vitiensis)
• green iguana (Iguana iguana)
• ground iguana (Cyclura spp.)
• guana
• helmeted iguana (Corytophanes cristatus)
• iggie
• iggy
• iguaniform
• iguanoid
• iguanomorph
• Jamaican iguana (Cyclura collei)
• land iguana (Conolophus spp.)
• lesser antillean iguana (Iguana delicatissima)
• marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus)
• Mona island iguana (Cyclura cornuta stejnegeri)
• pink iguana (Conolophus marthae)
• rhino iguana/rhinoceros iguana (Cyclura cornuta)
• ringed spinytail iguana
• rock iguana (Cyclura spp.)
• Tarapaca Pacific iguana (Microlophus tarapacensis)

Translations

any of several members of the lizard family Iguanidae

• Arabic: إِغْوَانَا f (ʔiḡwānā)
• Asturian: iguana (ast) f
• Belarusian: ігуа́на f (ihuána)
• Bikol:

  Central Bikol: layagan (bcl)

• Bulgarian: игуа́на (bg) f (iguána)
• Catalan: iguana (ca) f
• Chamicuro: kamashe
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鬣蜥 (zh) (lièxī)

• Dutch: leguaan (nl) m, iguana (nl) m
• Esperanto: igvano
• Fijian: vokai
• Finnish: leguaani (fi)
• French: iguane (fr) m
• German: Leguan (de) m
• Greek: ιγκουάνα f (igkouána)
• Gujarati: ઘો (gho)
• Hebrew: איגואנה
• Ido: iguano (io)
• Inabaknon: layagan
• Indonesian: iguana
• Irish: ioguána m
• Italian: iguana (it) f
• Japanese: イグアナ (ja) (iguana)
• Korean: 이구아나 (ko) (iguana)
• Lingala: mbámbe
• Macedonian: игуана f (iguana)
• Malay: iguana
• Mon: ဓကောတ် (mnw)
• Nahuatl:

  Guerrero Nahuatl: kojketspalin

• Navajo: naʼashǫ́ʼiitsoh
• Pali: godhā f
• Pangasinan: basakay, tilay
• Persian: ^{(please verify)} ایگوانا (igvânâ)
• Polish: iguana (pl) f, legwan (pl) m
• Portuguese: iguana (pt) f
• Romanian: iguană (ro) f
• Russian: игуа́на (ru) f (iguána)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: игуана f

  Latin: iguana (sh) f

• Spanish: iguana (es) f
• Swedish: leguan (sv) c
• Tagalog: bayawak
• Tamil: பல்லி (ta) (palli), உடும்பு (ta) (uṭumpu)
• Thai: อิกัวนา (ì-guua-nâa)
• Tongan: fokai
• Turkish: iguana (tr)
• Ukrainian: ігуа́на f (ihuána)
• Vietnamese: kỳ nhông, cự đà
• Volapük: liguan
• Welsh: igwana m

any member of the genus Iguana

• Asturian: iguana (ast) f
• Catalan: iguana (ca) f
• Chamicuro: kamashe
• Czech: leguán m
• Dutch: leguaan (nl) m
• Finnish: iguaani (fi)
• German: Leguan (de) m
• Italian: iguana (it) f
• Malay: iguana
• Navajo: naʼashǫ́ʼiitsoh
• Polish: iguana (pl) f, legwan (pl) m
• Portuguese: iguana (pt) f
• Romanian: iguană (ro) f
• Spanish: iguana (es) f
• Turkish: iguana (tr)
• Volapük: leguan m or f, hileguan m, jileguan f; (offspring) leguanül m or f, hileguanül m, jileguanül f

a green iguana (Iguana iguana)

• Amuzgo:

  Guerrero Amuzgo: kítzkó

• Bulgarian: игуана (bg) f (iguana)
• Catalan: iguana verda f
• Dutch: leguaan (nl) m
• Finnish: iguaani (fi)
• German: grüner Leguan m
• Hungarian: iguána
• Italian: iguana (it) f
• Navajo: naʼashǫ́ʼiitsoh dootłʼizhígíí
• Polish: legwan zielony
• Portuguese: iguana (pt) f
• Romanian: iguană (ro) f
• Russian: игуа́на (ru) f (iguána)
• Spanish: iguana (es) f
• Swedish: grön leguan c
• Turkish: iguana (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Zapotec:

  Isthmus Zapotec: ^{(please verify)} guchachiʼ, ^{(please verify)} guiu (small)

References

• “iguana”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “iguana”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• Iguana on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Iguana on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category:Iguana on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• Guiana, Inagua

Galician

Etymology

From Spanish iguana, from Taíno *iwana.

Noun

iguana f (plural iguanas)

1. iguana

Further reading

• “iguana”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026

Italian

Etymology

From Spanish iguana, from Taíno *iwana.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /iˈɡwa.na/
• Rhymes: -ana
• Hyphenation: i‧guà‧na

Noun

iguana f (plural iguane)

1. iguana

Anagrams

• Guiana, agunai, guaina

Japanese

Romanization

iguana

1. Rōmaji transcription of イグアナ

Kikuyu

Etymology

Reciprocal form of kũigua (“to hear”); literally, “to hear each other”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /iɣuana/

Verb

iguana (infinitive kũiguana)

1. to agree
2. to be reconciled
3. to be in one mind
4. to be friendly

   Nĩ mũiguanĩte ta gĩkwa na mũkũngũgũ.

   You (plural) agree like David and Jonathan.

Related terms

(Nouns)

• ũiguano class 14

Polish

Etymology

From Spanish iguana, from Taíno *iwana.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i.ɡuˈa.na/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ana
• Syllabification: i‧gu‧a‧na

Noun

iguana f

1. iguana

   Synonym: legwan

Declension

Declension of iguana

	singular	plural
nominative	iguana	iguany
genitive	iguany	iguan
dative	iguanie	iguanom
accusative	iguanę	iguany
instrumental	iguaną	iguanami
locative	iguanie	iguanach
vocative	iguano	iguany

Further reading

• “iguana”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[1] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “iguana”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[2] (in Polish)

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• iguano

Etymology

From Spanish iguana, from Taíno *iwana.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /iˈɡwɐ̃.nɐ/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /iˈɡwɐ.nɐ/ [iˈɣwɐ.nɐ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /iˈɡwɐ.nɐ/ [iˈɣwɐ.nɐ]
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /iˈɡwa.nɐ/ [iˈɣwa.nɐ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /iˈɡwɐ.nɐ/

• Audio (Brazil (Caipira)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɐnɐ
• Hyphenation: i‧gua‧na

Noun

iguana f or (rare) m (plural iguanas)

1. iguana

Usage notes

The gender of this Portuguese zoonym is always feminine: when the gender of the being itself must be specified, iguana-macho for male and iguana-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.

Further reading

• “iguana”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Taíno *iwana.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /iˈɡwana/ [iˈɣ̞wa.na]

• Audio (Spain):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ana
• Syllabification: i‧gua‧na

Noun

iguana f (plural iguanas)

1. iguana

Derived terms

• iguana verde

Descendants

• → Dutch: leguaan
  • Afrikaans: likkewaan
  • Berbice Creole Dutch: linggwana
  • Sranan Tongo: legwana
    • → Caribbean Hindustani: lagwáná
  • → German: Leguan
• → English: iguana
• → French: iguane
• → Galician: iguana
• → Italian: iguana
• → Japanese: イグアナ (iguana)
• → Portuguese: iguana
• → Turkish: iguana

Further reading

• “iguana”, 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

Turkish

Etymology

From Spanish iguana, from Taíno *iwana.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [iɡʋˈɑnɑ]
• Hyphenation: i‧gu‧a‧na

Noun

iguana (definite accusative iguanayı, plural iguanalar)

1. iguana

Declension

Declension of iguana

	singular	plural
nominative	iguana	iguanalar
definite accusative	iguanayı	iguanaları
dative	iguanaya	iguanalara
locative	iguanada	iguanalarda
ablative	iguanadan	iguanalardan
genitive	iguananın	iguanaların