echidna

== English == === Etymology === Coined in scientific literature around 1811. Probably from Ancient Greek ἔχιδνα (ékhidna, “snake, viper”) via Latin echidna. Compare ἐχῖνος (ekhînos, “hedgehog, etc.”). However, this sense is problematic (unless it is a reference to the ant-eating tongue). The name perhaps belongs to Latin echinus (“sea urchin, hedgehog”) from the aforementioned Ancient Greek term's alternate sense of "sea-urchin" (also "sharp points"), which Watkins explains as "snake-eater", from ἔχις (ékhis, “snake”), though it may actually be from Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰis (“hedgehog, hedgehog-like animals”). The 1810 Encyclopaedia Britannica deduces thus the animal's alternative name as "porcupine ant-eater". Alternatively, and perhaps more likely, the name refers to Echidna as the name of a serpent-nymph in Greek mythology, "a beautiful woman in the upper part of her body; but instead of legs and feet, she had from the waist downward, the form of a serpent", in which case the animal was named for its mixed features (early naturalists doubted whether it was a mammal or amphibian). Ultimately, the etymology may be from a synthesis of all the roots above. (From OED.) === Pronunciation === enPR: ĕkĭdnä, IPA(key): /əˈkɪdnə/ === Noun === echidna (plural echidnas or echidnae) Any of the small spined monotremes in the family Tachyglossidae, the four extant species of which are found in Australia and southern New Guinea. ==== Synonyms ==== (species of Tachyglossidae): spiny anteater, bunning, tachyglossid ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === See also === Tachyglossidae Tachyglossus Zaglossus Piggi-Billa puggle === Anagrams === chained == Italian == === Noun === echidna f (plural echidne) echidna == Latin == === Etymology === Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἔχιδνα (ékhidna, “viper”). === Pronunciation === (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ɛˈkʰɪn.na] (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [eˈkid.na] === Noun === echidna f (genitive echidnae); first declension an adder, viper ==== Declension ==== First-declension noun. ==== Related terms ==== Echidna === References === “echidna”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press “echidna”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers == Romanian == === Pronunciation === IPA(key): [eˈkidna] === Noun === echidna f definite nominative/accusative singular of echidnă