Etymology

capybara

ca·py·ba·ra
C3A1P3Y4B3A1R1A1

Today it means: A large semi-aquatic South American rodent of the genus Hydrochoerus. Full definition →

Spanish capibara ← Portuguese capivara ← Old Tupi kapi'iûara
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Old Tupi · derived fromkapi'iûara
  2. Portuguese · derived fromcapivara
  3. Spanish · borrowed fromcapibara
  4. English todaycapybara

From Spanish capibara, from Portuguese capivara, from Old Tupi kapi'iûara (literally “grass eater”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.