muskrat
USMUSK-rat/ˈmʌskɹæt/
Pluralmuskrats
- 1A brown, water-loving rodent with a long tail that lives near ponds and rivers.
Like a large rat that swims and makes its home by the water.
A muskrat swam quietly across the pond at dusk.
We saw two muskrats building a den among the reeds.
Note
- 2A small, shrew-like animal that eats insects, found mostly in Asia.
Like a tiny mouse with a long, pointed nose.
A muskrat ran across the floor chasing a beetle.
Some muskrats live close to people and hunt insects inside houses.
Note
- 3A large digging rat that lives in southern Asia.
Note
Practice
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Origin
Maybe named because it smells musky and looks like a rat, or maybe from an Algonquian word like Abenaki moskwas, later spelled to look like the English words musk and rat.