agouti
/əˈɡuːti/ noun
Forms agoutis
- noun A rodent of the genus Dasyprocta, similar in appearance to a guinea pig but having longer legs, mainly native to Central and South America.
- noun A fur containing a pattern of pigmentation in which individual hairs have several bands of light and dark pigment with black tips; any of several genes responsible for this pigmentation.
Synonyms
Etymology
From French agouti, from Old Tupi akuti. The name of the acouchi is probably from the same source.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A rodent of the genus Dasyprocta, about the size of a rabbit, peculiar to South America and the West Indies. The most common species is the Dasyprocta agouti.
Etymology [F. agouti, acouti, Sp. aguti, fr. native name.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “agouti”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details