Etymology

sumxu

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Today it means: A possibly mythical, long-haired, lop-eared type of cat or cat-like creature, now considered extinct, if it ever actually existed. Full definition →

Chinese 松鼠
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The story

  1. Chinese · derived from松鼠“squirrel”
  2. English todaysumxu

From a Portuguese rendering of Chinese 松鼠 (sōngshǔ, “squirrel”, literally “pine rat”). The name sumxu originally described the yellow-throated marten (Martes flavigula), but a series of mistranslations caused the name to be applied to the alleged cat or cat-like animal.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.