Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Of or pertaining to (a)
zebra (s).
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From the Ancient Greek (hippos) 'horse' + Latin tigris 'tiger', describing a 'tiger-like striped' equine
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Examples
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1878 OW potamus 1883 OW cameline camel 1865 hippotigrine zebra W OW hirudine leech W capreoline roe 1835 hominine man 1883 -
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Wrap your etymological chops around that one: if hippos is Greek for “horse” (hippopotamus is “horse of the river”), and tigrine refers to the tiger, which is striped, then hippotigrine must mean . . . of or related to the zebra!
“A Way with Words” Is “Car Talk” for Lexiphiles Condé Nast 2020
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