Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A large semiaquatic rodent (Myocastor coypus) native to South America, having webbed feet and a long tail. It is widely raised for fur and has formed wild populations especially in the southern United States.
  • noun The light brown fur of the nutria.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The coypou, Myopotamus coypus. See Myopotamus, and cut under coypou.
  • noun The fur or pelt of the coypou, formerly much used like beaver. Sometimes, erroneously, neutria.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The fur of the coypu. See coypu.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Another name for the coypu.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun aquatic South American rodent resembling a small beaver; bred for its fur

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[American Spanish, otter, coypu, from Spanish, otter, from Old Spanish, from Latin lutra (probably influenced by Greek enudris, otter); see wed- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Variant of Spanish lutria ("otter"), from Latin lutra.

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