muskrat

See also: musk-rat

English

Common muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus)

Alternative forms

• musk-rat

Etymology

Perhaps so called for its musky odour and because it resembles a rat, or perhaps called by an Algonquian name like the Abenaki moskwas, with the spelling altered under the influence of the English words musk and rat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmʌskɹæt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

muskrat (plural muskrats)

1. A semiaquatic rodent of the tribe Ondatrini.

   Synonyms: musquash, ondatra (dialectal), 'rat (clipping), rat (clipping)

   • 1865, Henry David Thoreau, Cape Cod, Chapter IX. "The Sea and the Desert", page 187.

     He also said that minks, muskrats, foxes, coons, and wild mice were found there, but no squirrels.

   • 2020, Louise Erdrich, The Night Watchman, Corsair (2021), page 442:

     Later, dozing in the lamplight, he saw muskrats everywhere. Their small supple forms slipped busily along the floor at dusk, continually perfecting their burrows. He saw them pulling soft weeds and holding juicy roots in their tiny paws to eat.

2. Any of several shrews in the family Soricidae, especially an Asian house shrew (Suncus murinus).

   Synonyms: Asian house shrew, musk shrew

3. (obsolete) A bandicoot rat.

Derived terms

• Elongated Muskrat
• muskrat root
• muskratty
• muskrat weed

Translations

rodent

• Ahtna: dzen
• Algonquin: wajack
• Arabic: فَأْرُ المِسْك m (faʔru l-misk)
• Aragonese: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: mur almizcleru
• Azerbaijani: ondatra
• Bashkir: ондатра (ondatra)
• Basque: arratoi musketadun
• Belarusian: анда́тра f (andátra)
• Breton: razh-musk (br)
• Bulgarian: ондатра f (ondatra)
• Catalan: rata mesquera f
• Cherokee: ᏎᎳᎩᏍᏆ (selagisqua)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 麝鼠 (zh) (shèshǔ)

• Chipewyan: dzen
• Czech: ondatra (cs)
• Danish: bisamrotte
• Dutch: muskusrat (nl) f
• Erzya: шарапуло (šarapulo)
• Esperanto: ondatro
• Estonian: ondatra (et)
• Faroese: moskusrotta
• Finnish: piisami (fi)
• French: rat musqué (fr) m
• Galician: aguaneira (gl)
• Georgian: ონდატრა (ondaṭra)
• German: Bisamratte (de) f
• Greek: μοσχοπόντικας (moschopóntikas)
• Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: pézsmapocok (hu)
• Icelandic: moskusrotta, bísamrotta
• Ido: moskorato (io)
• Interlingua: please add this translation if you can
• Irish: muscfhrancach
• Italian: topo muschiato m
• Japanese: マスクラット (ja) (masukuratto)
• Korean: 사향쥐 (sahyangjwi)
• Latvian: ondatra
• Lithuanian: ondatra
• Lower Sorbian: bizamowy šćurk
• Lower Tanana: dzenh
• Luxembourgish: Bisamrat
• Macedonian: бизамски стаорец m (bizamski staorec)
• Maltese: far tal-misk ta’ l-ilma
• Mi'kmaq: gi'gwesu anim
• Munsee: xwáshkwshush
• Navajo: tooh łéʼétsoh
• Norwegian: bisamrotte
• Ojibwe: wazhashk
• Pashto: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: piżmak (pl) m
• Portuguese: rato almiscareiro m
• Powhatan: ossaskoēss, mossaskoēss, sasskoweis
• Romanian: bizam (ro) m
• Romansch: undatra
• Russian: онда́тра (ru) f (ondátra)
• Saanich: SKEȽKEȽ
• Sardinian: medrona muscada, topi muscau
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бизамски пацов m

  Roman: bizamski pacov m, mošusni štakor m (Croatia), bizamski štakor m (Croatia)

• Sindhi: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: ondatra pižmová
• Slovene: pižmovka f
• Somali: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: rata almizclera, rata almizclada f, rata almizcleña f
• Swedish: bisam (sv) c, bisamråtta c
• Tanacross: dzenh
• Tlingit: tsín
• Turkish: misk sıçanı
• Udmurt: вукомак (vukomak)
• Ukrainian: онда́тра f (ondátra)
• Upper Sorbian: pižmo, pižmowa šćura, bizamowa myš
• Uyghur: ئىپارچاشقان (iparchashqan)
• Vietnamese: chuột xạ hương
• Welsh: mwsglygoden, llygoden fwsg
• West Frisian: muskusrôt
• Xhosa: please add this translation if you can
• Yiddish: פּיזעם m (pizem)
• Zulu: please add this translation if you can

Suncus murinus

• Czech: bělozubka hnědá
• Finnish: kyläpäästäinen
• German: Moschusspitzmaus
• Hindi: छछुंदर (hi) (chachundar)
• Kannada: ಸುಂಡಿಲಿ (kn) (suṇḍili)
• Russian: гига́нтская белозу́бка f (gigántskaja belozúbka), бу́рая му́скусная землеро́йка f (búraja múskusnaja zemlerójka), домова́я многозу́бка f (domovája mnogozúbka)
• Tamil: மூஞ்சூறு (ta) (mūñcūṟu)

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

• Telugu: కంపెలుక (te) (kampeluka)

References

• muskrat on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Ondatrini on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Asian house shrew on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Ondatra zibethicus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Suncus murinus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category:Ondatra zibethicus on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• Muktsar, muktars