Meanings
plural meerkats · alternative meercat · alternative mierkat
- Suricata suricatta, a small carnivorous mammal of the mongoose family, from the Kalahari Desert, known for its habit of standing on its hind legs.
Synonyms: suricate
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSuricata suricatta, a small carnivorous mammal of the mongoose family, from the Kalahari Desert, known for its habit of standing on its hind legs.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna mongoose-like viverrine of South Africa having a face like a lemur and only four toes
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Dutchmeercatte
- Dutchmeerkat“guenon [monkey]”
- Afrikaansmeerkat
- Englishmeerkat
From Afrikaans meerkat, transferred use of Dutch meerkat (“guenon [monkey]”), from Middle Dutch meercatte (literally “sea cat”), compare English mercat. Sometimes suggested to be influenced by or derived from an Indian source; compare Hindi मर्कट (markaṭ, “ape, monkey”) and Sanskrit मर्कट (markaṭa). Note however Old High German merikazza, so any influence from Indo-Aryan would have to be exceptionally early.
More words from Afrikaans, Dutch, Middle Dutch
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans meerkat
- meerkatsmall carnivorous mammal
Arabic سُرِقَاط, مِيرْكَات
- سُرِقَاط (suriqāṭ)small carnivorous mammal
- مِيرْكَات (mirkāt)small carnivorous mammal
Bengali মিরক্যাট
- মিরক্যাট (mirkêṭ)small carnivorous mammal
Bulgarian сурикат
- сурикат (surikat)small carnivorous mammal
Catalan suricata
- suricatasmall carnivorous mammal
Chinese Mandarin 狐獴, 細尾獴 /细尾獴
- 狐獴 (húměng)small carnivorous mammal
- 細尾獴 /细尾獴 (xìwěiměng)small carnivorous mammal
Czech surikata
- surikatasmall carnivorous mammal
Danish surikat
- surikatsmall carnivorous mammal
Dutch stokstaartje
- stokstaartjesmall carnivorous mammal
Esperanto surikato
- surikatosmall carnivorous mammal
Estonian surikaat
- surikaatsmall carnivorous mammal
Finnish surikaatti, nelisormimangusti
- surikaattismall carnivorous mammal
- nelisormimangustismall carnivorous mammal
French suricate
- suricatesmall carnivorous mammal
German Erdmännchen
- Erdmännchensmall carnivorous mammal
Greek σουρικάτα
- σουρικάτα (sourikáta)small carnivorous mammal
Hebrew סוּרִיקָטָה
- סוּרִיקָטָהsmall carnivorous mammal
Hungarian szurikáta
- szurikátasmall carnivorous mammal
Icelandic jarðköttur
- jarðköttursmall carnivorous mammal
Irish míorchat
- míorchatsmall carnivorous mammal
Italian suricato
- suricatosmall carnivorous mammal
Japanese ミーアキャット
- ミーアキャット (mīakyatto)small carnivorous mammal
Korean 미어캣
- 미어캣 (mieokaet)small carnivorous mammal
Latvian surikats
- surikatssmall carnivorous mammal
Lithuanian surikata
- surikatasmall carnivorous mammal
Norwegian surikat
- surikatsmall carnivorous mammal
Persian دمعصایی
- دمعصاییsmall carnivorous mammal
Polish surykatka
- surykatkasmall carnivorous mammal
Portuguese suricate, suricato
- suricatesmall carnivorous mammal
- suricatosmall carnivorous mammal
Romanian suricat
- suricatsmall carnivorous mammal
Russian сурика́т, сурика́та
- сурика́т (surikát)small carnivorous mammal
- сурика́та (surikáta)small carnivorous mammal
- мирка́т (mirkát)small carnivorous mammal
Slovak surikata
- surikatasmall carnivorous mammal
Spanish suricata, suricato
- suricatasmall carnivorous mammal
- suricatosmall carnivorous mammal
Swahili nguchiro wa porini
- nguchiro wa porinismall carnivorous mammal
Swedish surikat
- surikatsmall carnivorous mammal
Tamil பாலைவனக் கீரி
- பாலைவனக் கீரி (pālaivaṉak kīri)small carnivorous mammal
Thai เมียร์แคต
- เมียร์แคต (miia-kɛ́t)small carnivorous mammal
Turkish mirket
- mirketsmall carnivorous mammal
Ukrainian сурика́т
- сурика́т (surykát)small carnivorous mammal
Vietnamese cầy vằn bụng đỏ
- cầy vằn bụng đỏsmall carnivorous mammal
Welsh swricat, mirgath
- swricatsmall carnivorous mammal
- mirgathsmall carnivorous mammal
Yiddish סוריקאַטע
- סוריקאַטע (surikate)small carnivorous mammal
Zulu imhlangala, ububhibhi
- imhlangalasmall carnivorous mammal
- ububhibhismall carnivorous mammal
- ubuhayismall carnivorous mammal
Cite this entry
meerkat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/meerkat
“meerkat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/meerkat. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “meerkat,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/meerkat.
Source: meerkat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.