Standard Lemma guide

aardwolf

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈɑːdwʊlf/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈɑɹdˌwʊlf/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-South-African: /ˈɑːdvɒlf/
  • General-South-African: /ˈɑːt-/
  • General-South-African: /-vʊlf/

1

noun

Meaning 1

A nocturnal, insectivorous mammal (Proteles cristatus), having yellowish fur with vertical black stripes, and a long mane down the midline of the neck and back; it is related to and resembles the hyena, and is native to eastern and southern Africa.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: civet hyena, earthwolf, maanhaar, maanhaar-jackal, termite-eating hyena

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

striped hyena of southeast Africa that feeds chiefly on insects

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Proteles cristata

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: hyena, hyaena

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h1er-der. Proto-Germanic *erþō Proto-West Germanic *erþu Old Dutch ertha Middle Dutch āerde Dutch aarde Afrikaans aarde Proto-Indo-European *wl̥kwós? Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kwos Proto-Germanic *wulfaz Proto-West Germanic *wulf Old Dutch *wulf Middle Dutch wolf Dutch wolf Afrikaans wolf Afrikaans aardwolfbor. Dutch aardwolfbor. English aardwolf Borrowed from South African Dutch aardwolf (whence Afrikaans aardwolf), from aard- (prefix meaning ‘earth’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h1er- (“earth”), probably from the fact that the animal rests in burrows in the ground during the day) + wolf (“wolf”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kwos (“wolf”)), influenced by English wolf (the second element of aardwolf is pronounced like that word, and one plural form is aardwolves; the Dutch plural form is aardwolven).

Across languages

Translations

81 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Oromo: golloo — Proteles cristatus
  • Afrikaans: aardwolf — Proteles cristatus
  • Afrikaans: erdwolf — Proteles cristatus
  • Amharic: ቀመር ዥብ (ḳämär žəb) — Proteles cristatus
  • Arabic: ذِئْب الأَرْض (ḏiʔb al-ʔarḍ) — Proteles cristatus
  • Arabic: عِسْبَار (ʕisbār) — Proteles cristatus
  • Armenian: հողագայլ (hoġagayl) — Proteles cristatus
  • Azerbaijani: yer canavarı — Proteles cristatus
  • Basque: lur otso — Proteles cristatus
  • Belarusian: воўк земляны (vowk zjemljany) — Proteles cristatus
  • Breton: protel — Proteles cristatus
  • Bulgarian: земен вълк (zemen vǎlk) — Proteles cristatus
  • Catalan: pròteles — Proteles cristatus
  • Chinese Cantonese: 土狼 — Proteles cristatus
  • Chinese Mandarin: 土狼 (tǔláng) — Proteles cristatus
  • Czech: hyena cibetková — Proteles cristatus
  • Czech: hyenka hřivnatá — Proteles cristatus
  • Danish: jordulv — Proteles cristatus
  • Dutch: aardwolf — Proteles cristatus
  • Dutch: maanhaarjakhals — Proteles cristatus
  • Esperanto: protelo — Proteles cristatus
  • Estonian: tsiibethüään — Proteles cristatus
  • Finnish: maasusi — Proteles cristatus
  • French: loup fouisseur — Proteles cristatus
  • French: protèle — Proteles cristatus
  • Galician: lobo de terra — Proteles cristatus
  • Galician: prótele — Proteles cristatus
  • Georgian: მიწის მგელი (mic̣is mgeli) — Proteles cristatus
  • German: Erdwolf — Proteles cristatus
  • Greek: άαρντ-γουλφ (áarnt-goulf) — Proteles cristatus
  • Hebrew: צְבוֹעוֹן (tzevo'on) — Proteles cristatus
  • Hindi: कीटभक्षी लकड़बग्घा (kīṭbhakṣī lakaṛbagghā) — Proteles cristatus
  • Hungarian: cibethiéna — Proteles cristatus
  • Icelandic: jarðúlfur — Proteles cristatus
  • Indonesian: serigala bumi — Proteles cristatus
  • Irish: faolchú talún — Proteles cristatus
  • Italian: protele — Proteles cristatus
  • Japanese: アードウルフ (ādourufu) — Proteles cristatus
  • Japanese: 土狼 (tsuchiōkami) — Proteles cristatus
  • Kazakh: топырақ қасқыры (topyraq qasqyry) — Proteles cristatus
  • Korean: 땅늑대 (ttangneukdae) — Proteles cristatus
  • Northern Kurdish: gurgê axî — Proteles cristatus
  • Northern Kurdish: keftarê axî — Proteles cristatus
  • Latvian: zemesvilks — Proteles cristatus
  • Lithuanian: urvinė hiena — Proteles cristatus
  • Lithuanian: žeminis vilkas — Proteles cristatus
  • Malay: serigala bumi — Proteles cristatus
  • Mongolian: шороон цөөвөр чоно (šoroon cöövör čono) — Proteles cristatus
  • Norwegian Bokmål: jordulv — Proteles cristatus
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: jordulv — Proteles cristatus
  • Nǀuu: ǃoo — Proteles cristatus
  • Occitan: protèla — Proteles cristatus
  • Persian: گرگ خاکی (gorg xâki) — Proteles cristatus
  • Polish: protel — Proteles cristatus
  • Polish: protel grzywiasty — Proteles cristatus
  • Portuguese: lobo-da-terra — Proteles cristatus
  • Portuguese: protelo — Proteles cristatus
  • Romanian: lupul de pământ — Proteles cristatus
  • Russian: земляно́й волк (zemljanój volk) — Proteles cristatus
  • Serbo-Croatian: земни вук — Proteles cristatus
  • Serbo-Croatian: zemni vuk — Proteles cristatus
  • Sicilian: proteli — Proteles cristatus
  • Slovak: hyena cibetovitá — Proteles cristatus
  • Slovene: pižmova hijena — Proteles cristatus
  • Slovene: zemeljski volk — Proteles cristatus
  • Spanish: lobo de tierra — Proteles cristatus
  • Spanish: proteles — Proteles cristatus
  • Swahili: fisi mdogo — Proteles cristatus
  • Swazi: ingci — Proteles cristatus
  • Swedish: jordvarg — Proteles cristatus
  • Tatar: җир бүресе (cir bürese) — Proteles cristatus
  • Telugu: ఆర్డ్వుల్ఫ్ (ārḍvulph) — Proteles cristatus
  • Turkish: böcekçil sırtlan — Proteles cristatus
  • Turkish: yerkurdu — Proteles cristatus
  • Ukrainian: земляни́й вовк (zemljanýj vovk) — Proteles cristatus
  • Vietnamese: chó sói đất — Proteles cristatus
  • Volapük: talalup — Proteles cristatus
  • Welsh: blaidd daear — Proteles cristatus
  • Welsh: daearflaidd — Proteles cristatus
  • Yiddish: ערדוואָלף (erdvolf) — Proteles cristatus
  • Zulu: isínci — Proteles cristatus