Meanings
nounserval (plural servals)
plural servals
- A medium-sized African wild cat, Leptailurus serval, formerly Felis serval.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounslender long-legged African wildcat having large untufted ears and tawny black-spotted coat
Similar
Felis serval
Broader
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinlupus cervārius
- Portuguese(lobo) cerval“Iberian lynx”
- Frenchserval
- Englishserval
From French serval, from Portuguese (lobo) cerval (“Iberian lynx”), from Latin lupus cervārius (literally “stag wolf”), i.e. "wolf that hunts stags", from cervus (“deer, stag”).
More words from French, Portuguese, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans tierboskat
- tierboskatmedium-sized African wild cat
Arabic بَج
- بَج (baj)medium-sized African wild cat
Chinese Cantonese 藪貓 /薮猫
- 藪貓 /薮猫 (sau² maau¹)medium-sized African wild cat
Chinese Mandarin 藪貓 /薮猫
- 藪貓 /薮猫 (sǒumāo)medium-sized African wild cat
Czech serval
- servalmedium-sized African wild cat
Dutch serval, woestijnlynx
- servalmedium-sized African wild cat
- woestijnlynxmedium-sized African wild cat
Esperanto servalo
- servalomedium-sized African wild cat
Finnish servaali
- servaalimedium-sized African wild cat
French serval
- servalmedium-sized African wild cat
German Serval
- Servalmedium-sized African wild cat
Hungarian szervál
- szerválmedium-sized African wild cat
Icelandic gresjuköttur
- gresjukötturmedium-sized African wild cat
Irish seirbheal
- seirbhealmedium-sized African wild cat
Italian gattopardo, servalo
- gattopardomedium-sized African wild cat
- servalomedium-sized African wild cat
Japanese サーバル
- サーバル (sābaru)medium-sized African wild cat
Korean 서벌
- 서벌 (seobeol)medium-sized African wild cat
Malay serval
- servalmedium-sized African wild cat
Polish serwal
- serwalmedium-sized African wild cat
Portuguese serval
- servalmedium-sized African wild cat
Romanian serval
- servalmedium-sized African wild cat
Russian серва́л
- серва́л (servál)medium-sized African wild cat
Spanish serval
- servalmedium-sized African wild cat
Swahili mondo, mondo
- mondomedium-sized African wild cat
- mondomedium-sized African wild cat
Swedish serval
- servalmedium-sized African wild cat
Turkish serval
- servalmedium-sized African wild cat
Zulu indlozi
- indlozimedium-sized African wild cat
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
serval. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/serval
MLA
“serval.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/serval. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “serval,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/serval.
Source: serval on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.