cheetah
Pluralcheetahs
- 1A spotted member of the cat family, slightly smaller than the leopard but with longer limbs and a smaller head, native to Africa and southeast Asia, and reputed to be the fastest land animal.
Like a sprinter built entirely for the short, explosive dash rather than the long-distance run.
The cheetah accelerates from a standstill to full speed in just a few seconds.
Conservationists are tracking the dwindling cheetah populations across the Sahel.
Note
A name that began as a description: Hindi cītā, from Sanskrit citra "speckled" and kāya "body", so "having a spotted body." In Hindi the word meant leopard or panther, and the two spotted cats are easy to mix up. Zoologists call this one Acinonyx jubatus and tell it apart by build rather than coat: longer limbs and a smaller head on a slightly smaller frame.
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Origin
Borrowed from Hindi "cītā" ("leopard, panther"), which ultimately derives from Sanskrit "citra" ("multicolored, speckled") combined with "kāya" ("body"), giving the sense of "having a spotted body".