DictionaryAI

muskrat

noun
USMUSK-rat/ˈmʌskɹæt/

Pluralmuskrats

3 meanings of muskrat

Practice

  1. 1
    nouncountable
    A semiaquatic rodent of the tribe Ondatrini, at home in marshes, ponds, and slow-moving rivers.

    A muskrat dragged cattail stalks toward its lodge in the shallows.

    Trappers checked their lines for muskrats along the frozen creek.

    Note

    The name may be less English than it looks. It could simply describe a musky-smelling animal that resembles a rat. It could also be an Algonquian name, akin to Abenaki moskwas, that English speakers reshaped into the familiar words musk and rat. Thoreau lists muskrats in Cape Cod (1865) beside minks, foxes and coons, as part of the region's ordinary wildlife.

  2. 2
    nouncountable
    A name given to several shrews (family Soricidae), most often the Asian house shrew, Suncus murinus.

    The muskrat slipped under the door, filling the room with its sharp musky smell.

    Householders often mistake muskrats for mice darting along the kitchen walls.

    Note

    Here the name has wandered outside the rodents altogether, because a shrew belongs to the family Soricidae and not to the rats. Read as musk plus rat, one origin story behind the semiaquatic rodent, the name suits any small, strong-smelling, rat-like animal. When a text means the Asian house shrew, look to the context to tell it apart from the swimmer of ponds and marshes.

  3. 3
    nounobsolete
    A bandicoot rat, a large burrowing rodent found across South and Southeast Asia.
    Note

    The bandicoot rat once carried the name too, but that use is obsolete and survives only in older writing. A modern reader who meets muskrat in such a text should ask whether a burrowing rat is meant rather than the semiaquatic rodent. In your own writing, call this animal a bandicoot rat, which is what it is called today.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of muskrat apart? Answer 2 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

The name perhaps comes from the animal's musky odour and its resemblance to a rat, or perhaps from an Algonquian name such as the Abenaki moskwas, with the spelling altered under the influence of the English words musk and rat.