Standard Lemma guide

meerkat

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: /ˈmɪəkat/
  • General-American: /ˈmɪəɹkæt/
  • UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɪə(ɹ)kæt

1

noun

Meaning 1

Suricata suricatta, a small carnivorous mammal of the mongoose family, from the Kalahari Desert, known for its habit of standing on its hind legs.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: suricate

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a mongoose-like viverrine of South Africa having a face like a lemur and only four toes

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: mierkat

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: viverrine, viverrine mammal

Narrower terms: slender-tailed meerkat, Suricata suricatta, suricate, Suricata tetradactyla

History

Etymology

From Afrikaans meerkat, transferred use of Dutch meerkat (“guenon [monkey]”), from Middle Dutch meercatte (literally “sea cat”), compare English mercat. Sometimes suggested to be influenced by or derived from an Indian source; compare Hindi मर्कट (markaṭ, “ape, monkey”) and Sanskrit मर्कट (markaṭa). Note however Old High German merikazza, so any influence from Indo-Aryan would have to be exceptionally early.

Across languages

Translations

65 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: meerkat — small carnivorous mammal
  • Albanian: merkati — small carnivorous mammal
  • Arabic: سُرِقَاط (suriqāṭ) — small carnivorous mammal
  • Arabic: مِيرْكَات (mirkāt) — small carnivorous mammal
  • Armenian: սուրիկատ (surikat) — small carnivorous mammal
  • Belarusian: сурыка́т (surykát) — small carnivorous mammal
  • Bengali: মিরক্যাট (mirkêṭ) — small carnivorous mammal
  • Bulgarian: сурикат (surikat) — small carnivorous mammal
  • Catalan: suricata — small carnivorous mammal
  • Chinese Mandarin: 狐獴 (húměng) — small carnivorous mammal
  • Chinese Mandarin: 細尾獴 /细尾獴 (xìwěiměng) — small carnivorous mammal
  • Czech: surikata — small carnivorous mammal
  • Danish: surikat — small carnivorous mammal
  • Dutch: stokstaartje — small carnivorous mammal
  • Dutch: stokstaartje — small carnivorous mammal
  • Esperanto: surikato — small carnivorous mammal
  • Estonian: surikaat — small carnivorous mammal
  • Faroese: mýrikøttur — small carnivorous mammal
  • Finnish: surikaatti — small carnivorous mammal
  • Finnish: nelisormimangusti — small carnivorous mammal
  • French: suricate — small carnivorous mammal
  • North Frisian: eerdmenken — small carnivorous mammal
  • Galician: suricato — small carnivorous mammal
  • Georgian: სურიკატი (suriḳaṭi) — small carnivorous mammal
  • German: Erdmännchen — small carnivorous mammal
  • Greek: σουρικάτα (sourikáta) — small carnivorous mammal
  • Hebrew: סוּרִיקָטָה — small carnivorous mammal
  • Hungarian: szurikáta — small carnivorous mammal
  • Icelandic: jarðköttur — small carnivorous mammal
  • Irish: míorchat — small carnivorous mammal
  • Italian: suricato — small carnivorous mammal
  • Japanese: ミーアキャット (mīakyatto) — small carnivorous mammal
  • Korean: 미어캣 (mieokaet) — small carnivorous mammal
  • Kyrgyz: жербөбөк (jerböbök) — small carnivorous mammal
  • Latvian: surikats — small carnivorous mammal
  • Lithuanian: surikata — small carnivorous mammal
  • Macedonian: меркат (merkat) — small carnivorous mammal
  • Norwegian: surikat — small carnivorous mammal
  • Persian: دمعصایی — small carnivorous mammal
  • Polish: surykatka — small carnivorous mammal
  • Portuguese: suricate — small carnivorous mammal
  • Portuguese: suricato — small carnivorous mammal
  • Romanian: suricat — small carnivorous mammal
  • Russian: сурика́т (surikát) — small carnivorous mammal
  • Russian: сурика́та (surikáta) — small carnivorous mammal
  • Russian: мирка́т (mirkát) — small carnivorous mammal
  • Serbo-Croatian: меркат — small carnivorous mammal
  • Serbo-Croatian: merkat — small carnivorous mammal
  • Slovak: surikata — small carnivorous mammal
  • Sotho: mosha — small carnivorous mammal
  • Spanish: suricata — small carnivorous mammal
  • Spanish: suricato — small carnivorous mammal
  • Swahili: nguchiro wa porini — small carnivorous mammal
  • Swedish: surikat — small carnivorous mammal
  • Tamil: பாலைவனக் கீரி (pālaivaṉak kīri) — small carnivorous mammal
  • Thai: เมียร์แคต (miia-kɛ́t) — small carnivorous mammal
  • Turkish: mirket — small carnivorous mammal
  • Ukrainian: сурика́т (surykát) — small carnivorous mammal
  • Vietnamese: cầy vằn bụng đỏ — small carnivorous mammal
  • Welsh: swricat — small carnivorous mammal
  • Welsh: mirgath — small carnivorous mammal
  • Yiddish: סוריקאַטע (surikate) — small carnivorous mammal
  • Zulu: imhlangala — small carnivorous mammal
  • Zulu: ububhibhi — small carnivorous mammal
  • Zulu: ubuhayi — small carnivorous mammal