Standard Lemma guide

desman

noun · 1 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.

  • UK: /ˈdɛsmən/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /ˈdɛz.mən/
  • CMU ARPABET: D EH1 Z M AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Either of two species, Desmana moschata or Galemys pyrenaicus, of aquatic or semiaquatic insectivore of the mole family, Talpidae, found in Europe.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From French desman, German Desman, from Swedish desmanråtta (“muskrat”), from desman (“musk”, older also desma, desme), from Middle Low German dēsem, from Old Saxon desamo, alteration of *besamo (cf. Old High German bisamo), from Late Latin bisamum (“musk”), from Hebrew בושם (bāśām, bōśem). Doublet of balm and balsam.

Across languages

Translations

36 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Asturian: aguanzón — insectivore of the mole family
  • Asturian: fedegosa — insectivore of the mole family
  • Asturian: ratu de ríu — insectivore of the mole family
  • Bashkir: йофар (yofar) — insectivore of the mole family
  • Belarusian: хаху́ля (xaxúlja) — insectivore of the mole family
  • Bulgarian: мускусен плъх (muskusen plǎh) — insectivore of the mole family
  • Catalan: almesquera — insectivore of the mole family
  • Chuvash: йӑпӑр (jăp̬ăr) — insectivore of the mole family
  • Czech: vychuchol — insectivore of the mole family
  • Erzya: чара (čara) — insectivore of the mole family
  • Finnish: vesikontiainen — insectivore of the mole family
  • Finnish: vesimaamyyrä — insectivore of the mole family
  • French: desman — insectivore of the mole family
  • Galician: aguaneiro — insectivore of the mole family
  • Galician: rato do almiscre — insectivore of the mole family
  • Galician: toupa de río — insectivore of the mole family
  • Galician: toupeira da auga — insectivore of the mole family
  • German: Desman — insectivore of the mole family
  • German: Bisamrüssler — insectivore of the mole family
  • Hungarian: pézsmacickány — insectivore of the mole family
  • Ingush: пашбукъ (pašbuqʼ) — insectivore of the mole family
  • Kazakh: жұпартышқан (jūpartyşqan) — insectivore of the mole family
  • Latin: galemys — insectivore of the mole family
  • Lithuanian: kurmėnas — insectivore of the mole family
  • Eastern Mari: вӱдшашке (vüdšaške) — insectivore of the mole family
  • Polish: chochoł — insectivore of the mole family
  • Polish: desman — insectivore of the mole family
  • Polish: wychuchol — insectivore of the mole family
  • Portuguese: toupeira-de-água — insectivore of the mole family
  • Romanian: desman — insectivore of the mole family
  • Russian: вы́хухоль (výxuxolʹ) — insectivore of the mole family
  • Serbo-Croatian: vodenkrtica — insectivore of the mole family
  • Spanish: desmán — insectivore of the mole family
  • Swedish: myskmus — insectivore of the mole family
  • Tatar: җофа́р (cofár) — insectivore of the mole family
  • Ukrainian: хоху́ля (xoxúlja) — insectivore of the mole family