squirrel

English

A squirrel

Etymology

From Middle English squirel, squyrelle, from Anglo-Norman esquirel and Old French escurel (whence French écureuil), from Vulgar Latin *scūriolus, diminutive of *scūrius, variant of Latin sciurus, from Ancient Greek σκίουρος (skíouros).

Displaced native Middle English acquerne, aquerne, from Old English ācweorna.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈskwɪɹl̩/, /ˈskwɪɹəl/
• IPA^(key): /ˈskwɝl/, /ˈskwɝl̩/, /ˈskwɝəl/
• IPA^(key): /ˈskwɪɹəl/

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)l, -ɪɹəl

Noun

Wikispecies squirrel (plural squirrels)

1. Any of the rodents of the family Sciuridae distinguished by their large bushy tail.
   • 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.

2. (Scientology, often derogatory) A person, usually a freezoner, who applies L. Ron Hubbard's technology in a heterodox manner.
3. One of the small rollers of a carding machine which work with the large cylinder.

Synonyms

• scug (provincial)

Derived terms

• gray squirrel
• red squirrel
• squirrel friend

Translations

rodent

• Adyghe: кӏэпхъ (kʼɛpχ)
• Afrikaans: eekhorinkie
• Albanian: ketër (sq) m
• Algonquin: adjidamò
• Apache:

  Western Apache: na'iłtsóh

• Arabic: سِنْجَاب m (sinjāb)

  Hijazi: سنجاب m (sinjāb)

• Aragonese: esquirgüelo m
• Armenian: սկյուռ (hy) (skyuṙ)

  Old Armenian: սկիւռ (skiwṙ)

• Aromanian: viviritsã f
• Assamese: কেৰ্কেটুৱা (kerketua)
• Asturian: esquilu m (Cantabrian)
• Azerbaijani: sincab (az)
• Bakung: pu'an
• Bashkir: тейен (teyen)
• Basque: katagorri (eu), urtxintxa (eu)
• Bau Bidayuh: pas
• Belarusian: вавёрка f (vavjórka)
• Breton: gwiñver (br) m, kaz-koad m
• Brunei Malay: basing, tupai
• Bulgarian: ка́терица (bg) f (káterica)
• Burmese: ရှဉ့် (my) (hrany.)
• Catalan: esquirol (ca) m
• Central Mazahua: mijñi
• Central Melanau: bap
• Central Sierra Miwok: mé·we-
• Chechen: тарсал (tarsal)
• Cherokee: ᏌᎳᎵ (salali), ᏌᎶᎵ (saloli)
• Cheyenne: no'ee'e
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 松鼠 (cung⁴ syu²)

  Mandarin: 松鼠 (zh) (sōngshǔ), 灰鼠 (zh) (huīshǔ), 栗鼠 (zh) (lìshǔ)

• Chukchi: равыԓьэӈ (ravyḷʹėṇ), равыԓьэӈыт pl (ravyḷʹėṇyt)
• Chuvash: пакша (pakša)
• Cornish: gwiwer m
• Czech: veverka (cs) f
• Dalmatian: viala f
• Danish: egern (da) n
• Dolgan: тииҥ (tiiñ)
• Dutch: eekhoorn (nl) m
• Erzya: ур (ur)
• Esperanto: sciuro
• Estonian: orav (et)
• Faroese: íkorni m
• Finnish: orava (fi)
• French: écureuil (fr) m
• Friulian: sghirat m, sghirate ?
• Galician: esquío (gl) m, lisgairo m
• Georgian: ციყვი (ciq̇vi)
• German: Eichhörnchen (de) n, Hörnchen (de) n, Eichhorn n

  Regional German: Eichkatze f, Eichkätzchen n, Eichkater m, Eichhase (de) m

• Greek: σκίουρος (el) m (skíouros)

  Ancient: σκίουρος m (skíouros)

• Guaraní: koati
• Gujarati: ખિસકોલી f (khiskholī)
• Hebrew: סנאי (he) m (sna'í)
• Hindi: गिलहरी (hi) f (gilahrī)
• Hopi: sakuna
• Hungarian: mókus (hu)
• Icelandic: íkorni (is) m
• Ido: skurelo (io)
• Indonesian: bajing (id), tupai (id)
• Interlingua: sciuro, scuriolo
• Interlingue:
• Irish: iora m, madra crainn m
• Isthmus Zapotec: chisa
• Italian: scoiattolo (it) m
• Japanese: 栗鼠 (ja) (りす, risu), リス (ja) (risu)
• Javanese: bajing (jv)
• K'iche': kuk
• Kannada: ಅಳಿಲು (kn) (aḷilu)
• Karachay-Balkar: эрлен (erlen), (karachay) агъач къоян (ağaç qoyan), (obsolete) тыйын (tıyın)
• Kazakh: тиін (kk) (tiın)
• Khakas: тиин (tiin)
• Khmer: កំប្រុក (km) (kɑmprok), កង្ហែន (km) (kɑnghaen)
• Kimaragang: bosing
• Korean: 다람쥐 (ko) (daramjwi)
• Kumyk: атъялман (atyalman)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: سیمۆرە (sîmore)

  Southern Kurdish: سنجاو (sincaw)

• Kyrgyz: тыйын чычкан (tıyın cıckan)
• Ladin: schirata f
• Lak: бюрхттукку (buˤrxt:uk:u)
• Lao: ກະຈ້ອນ (ka chǭn), ກະຮອກ (lo) (ka hǭk), ກະເລັນ (ka len), ກະແຕ (ka tǣ), ກະໄນ່ (ka nai), ກະໄຫນ່ (ka nai), ກະໄໜ່ (ka nai), ຈ້ອນ (chǭn), ຕົວບ່າງ (tūa bāng), ຮອກ (hǭk)
• Latgalian: vuovere f
• Latin: sciurus (la) m
• Latvian: vāvere (lv) f
• Lithuanian: voverė (lt) f
• Low German:

  German Low German: Katteker m, Ekatte (nds) f (Vest Recklinghausen), Ekättken (nds) n (Vest Recklinghausen)

• Luxembourgish: Kaweechelchen (lb) n
• Lü: ᦀᦲᦰᦣᦸᧅ (˙ʼihoak)
• Macedonian: верверица f (ververica)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Malay:

  Jawi: توڤاي, باجيڠ

  Rumi: tupai, bajing

• Maltese: skwiril m
• Manx: fiorag f
• Maori: kirera
• Marathi: खार (khār)
• Mi'kmaq: atu'tuej anim
• Middle English: aquerne m
• Mongolian: хэрэм (mn) (xerem)
• Nahuatl: mōtohtli (nah)
• Nanticoke: mow-ik-key
• Narragansett: mishánneke
• Navajo: tseekʼi nástánii, hazéí
• Newar: थ्वाच्चा (thvāccā)
• Nivkh: лаӄр̌ (laqrš)
• Norman: (Jersey) êtchutheu m, (continental Norman) jaqùet m
• North Frisian: kaateeker (Föhr)
• Northern Sami: oarˈri
• Northern Sotho: sehlora
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ekorn (no) m or n

  Nynorsk: ekorn n, ikorn n

• Occitan: esquiròl (oc) m
• Ojibwe: ajidamoo
• Old English: ācweorna m
• Old Norse: íkorni m
• Osage: sį́ka
• Ossetian: ӕхсӕрӕг (æxsæræg), ӕхсӕрсӕттӕг (æxsærsættæg)
• Ottawa: jidmoo
• Persian: سنجاب (fa) (sanjâb), وروره (varvare)
• Piedmontese: schërieul m
• Pipil: mututzin
• Polish: wiewiórka (pl) f
• Portuguese: esquilo (pt) m
• Powhatan: messanik
• Punjabi: ਕਾਟੋ f (kāṭō)
• Quechua: antharu
• Romani: viaveritsa f
• Romanian: veveriță (ro) f
• Romansch: stgilat m
• Russian: бе́лка (ru) f (bélka), ве́верица (ru) f (véverica) (obsolete), ве́кша (ru) f (vékša) (regional), вевёрка f (vevjórka) (obsolete)
• Sami:

  Northern Sami: oarri

• Sanskrit: वृक्षमर्कटिका (sa) f (vṛkṣamarkaṭikā), वृक्षशायिका (sa) f (vṛkṣaśāyikā)
• Sardinian: schirrittu m, schirrimatta f, iscojàttulu m
• Scottish Gaelic: feòrag
• Sebop: pu'an
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: (Ekavian) ве̏верица f, (Ijekavian) вје̏верица f

  Roman: (Ekavian) vȅverica (sh) f, (Ijekavian) vjȅverica (sh) f

• Shona: tsindi
• Shor: тииң (tiiñ)
• Sinhalese: ලේනා (lēnā)
• Slovak: veverica (sk) f
• Slovene: veverica (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: njewjericka f

  Upper Sorbian: wjewjerčka (hsb) f

• Southern Altai: тийиҥ (tiyiń)
• Southern Ohlone: cicik
• Southern Sami: åeruve
• Spanish: ardilla (es) f
• Sranan Tongo: ekosi
• Sudovian: vevare f
• Sundanese: bajing (su)
• Swahili: (nc 9/10) ^{(please verify)} kindi
• Swedish: ekorre (sv) c
• Tagal Murut: kaitan
• Tagalog: mutit, bising, ardilya
• Tamil: அணில் (ta) (aṇil)
• Taos: c’ùwala’ána
• Tashelhit: ⴰⵏⵥⵉⴹ m (anẓiḍ), ⴰⴳⴱⵓⵔ m (agbur) (Atlantoxerus getulus)
• Tatar: тиен (tt) (tiyen)
• Telugu: ఉడుత (te) (uḍuta)
• Thai: กระรอก (th) (grà-rɔ̂ɔk)
• Tibetan: ནགས་བྱི། (nags byi)
• Turkish: sincap (tr), değin (tr), çekelez (tr)
• Turkmen: awusiýdik (tk), belka
• Tuvan: дииң (diiñ)
• Ukrainian: бі́лка (uk) f (bílka), ви́вірка (uk) f (vývirka), біли́ця (uk) f (bilýcja) (regional), ви́скічка f (výskička) (regional)
• Urdu: گلہری f (gilahrī)
• Uyghur: تىيىن (ug) (tiyin)
• Uzbek: olmaxon (uz)
• Venetian: schirat m
• Vietnamese: sóc (vi)
• Vilamovian: ǡh́kjēnła n
• Volapük: yat (vo)
• Walloon: spirou (wa) m, skiron (wa) m
• Welsh: gwiwer (cy) f
• West Coast Bajau: basing
• West Frisian: iikhoarntsje n, iikhoarn
• Wolof: jaar ji
• Yakut: тииҥ (tiiñ)
• Yiddish: וועוורקע f (vevrke), וועווריק m (vevrik)
• Yoruba: ọkẹrẹ
• Zazaki: sımore m
• Zhuang: noucoengz
• Zuni: yashi

Verb

squirrel (third-person singular simple present squirrels, present participle squirreling, simple past and past participle squirreled)

1. (transitive) To store in a secretive manner, to hide something for future use

Usage notes

• In addition to the single-L forms squirreling and squirreled given above, the less-common double-L forms squirrelling and squirrelled are also attested in UK usage.

Derived terms

• squirrel around
• squirrel away