Etymology

kinkajou

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Today it means: Potos flavus, a carnivorous mammal of Central America and South America with a long, prehensile tail, related to the raccoon. Full definition →

French quincajou ← Algonquian
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The story

  1. Algonquian · derived from
  2. French · borrowed fromquincajou
  3. English todaykinkajou

From French quincajou, from an Algonquian word, probably originally meaning ‘wolverine’ (compare Algonquin Kwingwaage, Ojibwe gwiingwa'aage (“wolverine”)), which was later transferred to the South American animal. Related to carcajou.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.