# muskrat

Pronunciation: US say "MUSK-rat" /ˈmʌskɹæt/; UK

## Noun

1. A semiaquatic rodent of the tribe Ondatrini, at home in marshes, ponds, and slow-moving rivers.
   - Simple: A brown, water-loving rodent with a long tail that lives near ponds and rivers.
   - _A muskrat dragged cattail stalks toward its lodge in the shallows._
   - _Trappers checked their lines for muskrats along the frozen creek._
2. A name given to several shrews (family Soricidae), most often the Asian house shrew, Suncus murinus.
   - Simple: A small, shrew-like animal that eats insects, found mostly in Asia.
   - _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._

## Noun

3. A bandicoot rat, a large burrowing rodent found across South and Southeast Asia. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A large digging rat that lives in southern Asia.

## 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.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/muskrat (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).