Standard Lemma guide

jerboa

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.

  • /dʒɜː(ɹ)ˈbəʊ.ə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of a number of species comprising the family Dipodidae, native to the deserts of Asia and northern Africa, being a small, jumping rodent with a long tufted tail, very small forefeet and very long hind legs.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

mouselike jumping rodent

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: rodent, gnawer

Narrower terms: typical jerboa, Jaculus jaculus

History

Etymology

From Arabic جَرْبُوع (jarbūʕ) or يَرْبُوع (yarbūʕ). Doublet of gerbil.

Across languages

Translations

38 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: جَرْبُوع (jarbūʕ) — small rodent
  • Arabic: يَرْبُوع (yarbūʕ) — small rodent
  • Arabic: جَرْبُوع (jarbūʕ) — small rodent
  • Azerbaijani: ərəbdovşanı — small rodent
  • Bashkir: ялман (yalman) — small rodent
  • Bulgarian: джербоа (džerboa) — small rodent
  • Catalan: jerbu — small rodent
  • Chinese Mandarin: 跳鼠 (tiàoshǔ) — small rodent
  • Crimean Tatar: yer tavşanı — small rodent
  • Czech: tarbík — small rodent
  • Finnish: jerbo — small rodent
  • French: gerboise — small rodent
  • Galician: xerbo — small rodent
  • German: Wüstenspringmaus — small rodent
  • Hungarian: ugróegér — small rodent
  • Italian: gerboa — small rodent
  • Kalmyk: ялмн (yalmn) — small rodent
  • Karakalpak: qosayaq — small rodent
  • Kazakh: қосаяқ (qosaäq) — small rodent
  • Kyrgyz: кош аяк (koş ayak) — small rodent
  • Marathi: जेरबोआ (jerboā) — small rodent
  • Polish: skoczkowaty — small rodent
  • Portuguese: gerbo — small rodent
  • Romanian: jerboa — small rodent
  • Russian: тушка́нчик (tuškánčik) — small rodent
  • Spanish: jerbo — small rodent
  • Spanish: gerbo — small rodent
  • Tagalog: daganlulundag — small rodent
  • Tagalog: herbo — small rodent
  • Tajik: тавушқон (tavušqon) — small rodent
  • Tatar: кушаяк (quşayaq) — small rodent
  • Tatar: җир куяны (cir quyanı) — small rodent
  • Turkish: Arap tavşanı — small rodent
  • Turkish: aktavşan — small rodent
  • Turkmen: atýalman — small rodent
  • Uyghur: يالمانتاقتاق (yalmantaqtaq) — small rodent
  • Uzbek: qo'shoyoq — small rodent
  • Vietnamese: chuột nhảy — small rodent