Meanings
plural anteaters
- Any of several animals of South and Central America, in the suborder Vermilingua, which are noted for eating ants and termites which they catch with their long sticky tongues, including giant anteater and lesser anteater (also known as collared anteater).
- Any of some other not closely related species that feed with ants, including pangolin (scaly anteater), echidna (spiny anteater), aardvark (African anteater) and numbat (banded anteater).
- derogatoryhumorousslangAn uncircumcised penis.
Synonyms & antonyms
nountoothless mammal of southern Africa and Asia having a body covered with horny scales and a long snout for feeding on ants and termites
nounany of several tropical American mammals of the family Myrmecophagidae which lack teeth and feed on ants and termites
nounnocturnal burrowing mammal of the grasslands of Africa that feeds on termites; sole extant representative of the order Tubulidentata
nounsmall Australian marsupial having long snout and strong claws for feeding on termites; nearly extinct
nouna burrowing monotreme mammal covered with spines and having a long snout and claws for hunting ants and termites; native to New Guinea
nouna burrowing monotreme mammal covered with spines and having a long snout and claws for hunting ants and termites; native to Australia
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From ant + eater, from their typical diet.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic آكَل النَّمْل
- آكَل النَّمْل (ʔākal an-naml)mammal
Bengali পিঁপড়াভুক
- পিঁপড়াভুক (pĩpṛabhuk)mammal
Bulgarian мравоя́д
- мравоя́д (mravojád)mammal
Catalan os formiguer
- os formiguermammal
Chinese Mandarin 食蟻獸 /食蚁兽
- 食蟻獸 /食蚁兽 (shíyǐshòu)mammal
Czech mravenečník
- mravenečníkmammal
Danish myresluger
- myreslugermammal
Dutch miereneter
- mierenetermammal
Esperanto formikomanĝulo
- formikomanĝulomammal
Estonian sipelgaõgija
- sipelgaõgijamammal
Finnish muurahaiskarhu
- muurahaiskarhumammal
French fourmilier
- fourmiliermammal
German Ameisenbär
- Ameisenbärmammal
Greek μυρμηγκοφάγος
- μυρμηγκοφάγος (myrmigkofágos)mammal
Hebrew דוב נמלים
- דוב נמלים (dov nemalim)mammal
Hindi चींटीख़ोर
- चींटीख़ोर (cī̃ṭīxor)mammal
Hungarian hangyász
- hangyászmammal
Icelandic mauraæta
- mauraætamammal
Irish arcán talún, alpaire seangán
- arcán talúnmammal
- alpaire seangánmammal
Italian formichiere
- formichieremammal
Japanese 蟻食, アリクイ
- 蟻食 (arikui)mammal
- アリクイ (arikui)mammal
Korean 개미핥기
- 개미핥기 (gaemihalgi)mammal
Latin vermilingua
- vermilinguamammal
Latvian skudrlācis
- skudrlācismammal
Lithuanian skruzdėlynas
- skruzdėlynasmammal
Malay tenggiling
- tenggilingmammal
Norwegian Bokmål maursluker
- maurslukermammal
Persian مورچهخوار
- مورچهخوار (murče-xâr)mammal
Polish mrówkojad
- mrówkojadmammal
Portuguese tamanduá, papa-formigas
- tamanduámammal
- papa-formigasmammal
Romanian furnicar
- furnicarmammal
Russian муравье́д
- муравье́д (muravʹjéd)mammal
Slovak mravčiar
- mravčiarmammal
Spanish oso hormiguero, shihui
- oso hormigueromammal
- shihuimammal
Swahili kiharara, loma
- kihararamammal
- lomamammal
Swedish myrslok
- myrslokmammal
Tamil எறும்புத்தின்னி
- எறும்புத்தின்னி (eṟumputtiṉṉi)mammal
Thai ตัวกินมด
- ตัวกินมด (dtuua-gin-mót)mammal
Turkish karıncayiyen
- karıncayiyenmammal
Ukrainian мурахої́д
- мурахої́д (muraxojíd)mammal
Vietnamese thú ăn kiến
- thú ăn kiếnmammal
Welsh morgrugysor
- morgrugysormammal
Cite this entry
anteater. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anteater
“anteater.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anteater. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “anteater,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anteater.
Source: anteater on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.