mongoose

English

"Large grey" or "Egyptian" mongoose

Indian mongoose

Northern Ring-tailed
Malagasy Mongoose

Wikispecies

Wikispecies

Alternative forms

• mungoose (archaic)

Etymology

1690s. Borrowed from Portuguese mangusto, from Marathi मुंगूस (muṅgūs), from Old Marathi 𑘦𑘳𑘽𑘐𑘳𑘭 (muṃgusa), from Telugu ముంగిస (muṅgisa). Spelling altered by folk-etymological association with goose.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɒŋ.ɡuːs/
• IPA^(key): /ˈmɑŋ.ɡus/, /ˈmʌŋ.ɡus/

Noun

mongoose (plural mongooses or (nonstandard) mongeese)

1. Any of several species of generalist predatory Carnivores in the family Herpestidae; the various species range in size from rats to large cats. The Indian mongoose is noted as a predator of venomous snakes, though other mongoose species have similar habits.
   • 1864, John Holmes Agnew et al., The Eclectic Magazine: Foreign Literature‎^[1]:

     After the mongoose had satisfied its appetite, we proceeded to examine with a pocket lens the wounds he had received from the cobra; and on cleansing one of these places, the lens disclosed the broken fang of the cobra deeply imbedded in the head of the mongoose... We have had the mongoose confined ever since (now four days' time), and it is as healthy and lively as ever.

   • 1924, Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book:Rikki-Tikki-Tavi:

     He was a mongoose, rather like a little cat in his fur and his tail, but quite like a weasel in his head and his habits.

2. Any species of Malagasy mongooses; only distantly related to the Herpestidae, these are members of the family Eupleridae; they resemble mongooses in appearance and habits, but have larger ears and ringed tails.

Derived terms

• African mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon)
• Angolan slender mongoose ()
• banded mongoose ()
• Bengal mongoose ()
• black-footed mongoose ()
• black-legged mongoose ()
• black mongoose ()
• brown-tailed mongoose ()
• bushy-tailed mongoose ()
• Cape gray mongoose ()
• collared mongoose ()
• common dwarf mongoose ()
• common mongoose ()
• crab-eating mongoose ()
• dwarf mongoose ()
• Egyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon)
• Gambian mongoose ()
• Grandidier's mongoose ()
• Indian brown mongoose ()
• Indian gray mongoose/Indian mongoose ()
• Liberian mongoose ()
• long-nosed mongoose ()
• Jackson's mongoose ()
• Javan mongoose ()
• large gray mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon)
• marsh mongoose ()
• Meller's mongoose ()
• mongoose bat
• mongoose lemur ()
• narrow-striped mongoose ()
• Pousargues's mongoose ()
• ring-tailed mongoose ()
• ruddy mongoose ()
• Selous's mongoose ()
• short-tailed mongoose ()
• slender mongoose ()
• stripe-necked mongoose ()
• Somalian slender mongoose ()
• white-tailed mongoose ()
• yellow mongoose ()
• zebra mongoose ()

Translations

a small carnivore of the family Herpestidae

• Afrikaans: muishond
• Arabic: نِمْس m (nims)

  Egyptian Arabic: نمس m (nims)

• Armenian: մանգուստ (mangust)
• Assamese: নেউল (neul)
• Azerbaijani: manqustlar
• Belarusian: мангу́ст m (manhúst)
• Bulgarian: мангу́ста (bg) f (mangústa)
• Burmese: မြွေပါ (my) (mrwepa)
• Catalan: mangosta f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 獴 (zh) (měng), 貓鼬／猫鼬 (zh) (māoyòu), 猫鼬 (zh) (māoyòu)

• Czech: mangusta (cs) f (genera Bdeogale, Crossarchus, Cynictis, Dologale, Helogale, Ichneumia, Liberiictis, Mungos, Paracynictis and Rhynchogale), promyka (cs) f (genera Atilax, Galerella and Herpestes), surikata (cs) f (genus Suricata)
• Dutch: mangoeste c
• Estonian: mangust
• Finnish: mungo, mangusti (fi)
• French: mangouste (fr)
• German: Manguste f, Mungo (de) m
• Greek: μαγκούστα (el) (magkoústa)

  Ancient: ἰχνεύμων m (ikhneúmōn)

• Gujarati: નોળિયો (noḷiyo)
• Hawaiian: manakuke
• Hebrew: נְמִיָּה (he) f (nemiyá)
• Hindi: नेवला (hi) (nevlā)
• Hungarian: mongúz (hu)
• Ido: mangusto (io)
• Indonesian: garangan (id), cerpelai (id)
• Irish: mongús m
• Italian: mangusta (it) f
• Japanese: マングース (ja) (mangūsu)
• Javanese: garangan (jv)
• Khmer: សត្វស្កា (satvoskaa)
• Korean: 몽구스 (mongguseu)
• Lao: ຈອນພອນ (chǭn phǭn)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Lithuanian: mangusta f
• Maharastri Prakrit:
• Malay: cerpelai, bambun
• Malayalam: കീരി (ml) (kīri)
• Marathi: मुंगूस (muṅgūs)
• Navajo: dlǫ́ʼii yił aheełtʼéhígíí
• Nepali: न्याउरी (nyāurī)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: mungo m

• Persian: خدنگ (fa) (xadang)
• Polish: mangusta (pl) f
• Portuguese: mangusto m, fuinha (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਨਿਓਲਾ (niolā)
• Romanian: mangustă (ro) f
• Russian: мангу́ст (ru) m (mangúst)
• Sanskrit: नकुल (sa) m (nakula)
• Shona: jerenyenje
• Slovene: mungo (sl) m
• Spanish: mangosta (es) f
• Sundanese: ᮜᮞᮥᮔ᮪ (lasun)
• Swahili: nguchiro
• Swedish: mungo c, mangust (sv) c
• Tamil: கீரி (ta) (kīri), கீரிப்பிள்ளை (ta) (kīrippiḷḷai)
• Telugu: ముంగిస (te) (muṅgisa)
• Thai: พังพอน (pang-pɔɔn)
• Turkish: firavun faresi, kuyruksüren (tr)
• Ukrainian: мангу́ст m (manhúst)
• Vietnamese: (cầy) mangut
• Volapük: mungud (vo)
• Welsh: mongŵs m
• Wolof: sikkóor bi

Anagrams

• gonosome