Meanings
plural chevrotains
- Any of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae, native to tropical rainforests of South and Southeast Asia, and Central and West Africa.
1 more example
To this vve may add the Chevrotin, or little Guinea Deer, vvhich is the leaſt of all cloven-footed quadrupeds, and perhaps the moſt beautiful; its legs, at the ſmalleſt part, are not much thicker than the ſhank of a tobacco-pipe; it is about ſeven inches high, and about tvvelve from the point of the noſe to the inſertion of the tail.
1791, Oliver Goldsmith, “Of Animals of the Sheep and Goat Kind”, in An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature. […], new edition, volume III, London: […] F[rancis] Wingrave, successor to Mr. [John] Nourse, […], →OCLC, page 76Synonyms: mouse deer, tragulid
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAny of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae, native to tropical rainforests of South and Southeast Asia, and Central and West Africa.
More synonyms by meaning
nounvery small hornless deer-like ruminant of tropical Asia and west Africa
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*kápros“billy goat, he-goat”
- Latincapra“she-goat”
- Old Frenchchevrot“young goat, kid”
- Frenchchevrotain
- Englishchevrotain
Borrowed from French chevrotain, chevrotin (“ruminant of the family Tragulidae”), the diminutive of Old French chevrot (“young goat, kid”), itself a diminutive of chievre (“goat”) (modern French chèvre (“she-goat”)) + -ot (diminutive suffix). Chievre is derived from Latin capra (“she-goat”), from caper (“billy goat, he-goat”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kápros (“billy goat, he-goat”)) + -a (suffix forming feminine counterparts of masculine nouns).
More words from French, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic طرغولية
- طرغوليةany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Bulgarian еленчета, мишевидните елени
- еленчета (elenčeta)any of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
- мишевидните елени (miševidnite eleni)any of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Catalan tràgul
- tràgulany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Chinese Mandarin 鼷鹿
- 鼷鹿 (xīlù)any of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Dutch dwerghert, dwergmuskusdier
- dwerghertany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
- dwergmuskusdierany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Esperanto tragolo
- tragoloany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Finnish kääpiökauris
- kääpiökaurisany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
French chevrotain
- chevrotainany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
German Hirschferkel, Zwergböckchen
- Hirschferkelany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
- Zwergböckchenany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Hungarian kancsil
- kancsilany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Indonesian kancil, pelanduk
- kancilany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
- pelandukany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Irish fia luiche, seibhreatán
- fia luicheany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
- seibhreatánany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Italian tragulo
- traguloany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Japanese 豆鹿
- 豆鹿 (mamejika)any of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Lithuanian elniukiniai, kančiliai
- elniukiniaiany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
- kančiliaiany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Malay kancil, pelanduk
- kancilany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
- pelandukany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Norwegian Bokmål dvergmoskusdyr
- dvergmoskusdyrany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Polish kanczyl, myszojeleń
- kanczylany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
- myszojeleńany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Portuguese tragulídeo, trágulo
- tragulídeoany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
- tráguloany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
- cervo-ratoany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Spanish dorcaterio, ciervo ratón
- dorcaterioany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
- ciervo ratónany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
- vioñaany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Swahili paa-chonge
- paa-chongeany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Swedish mushjort
- mushjortany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Tagalog kidang, pilandok
- kidangany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
- pilandokany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Tamil சருகுமான்
- சருகுமான் (carukumāṉ)any of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Thai กระจง
- กระจง (grà-jong)any of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Vietnamese cheo, cheo cheo
- cheoany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
- cheo cheoany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Welsh gafrewigan
- gafrewiganany of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae
Cite this entry
chevrotain. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chevrotain
“chevrotain.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chevrotain. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chevrotain,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chevrotain.
Source: chevrotain on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.