tiger
Pluraltigers
- 1A large wild cat of Asia with orange fur and black stripes; sometimes specifically the male, as opposed to the tigress.
The tiger stalked through the tall grass, barely making a sound.
Wild tigers once ranged across much of Asia but now survive in scattered pockets.
Note
Spenser still spells it Tigre in The Faerie Queene (1590) and pairs it with the lion as the predator rushing from the forest.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Edmund Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene, whose first three books were first published in 1590. en.wikisource.org
- Spenser uses the spelling Tigre and pairs the animal with a lion rushing from a nearby forest. en.wiktionary.org
- 2A fierce, determined, or energetic person, including someone regarded as particularly vigorous during sex.
The new prosecutor was a tiger, tearing into every witness without mercy.
Behind that quiet smile is a tiger who never backs down from a fight.
Note
Fierceness transferred to people, and in Shakespeare the transfer is merciless. In Titus Andronicus, Lucius calls Tamora a "heinous tiger" and orders her body thrown to beasts and birds of prey, so the word there means cruelty, not courage. Modern use has softened toward admiration for boldness, as in a tiger of a prosecutor. The context tells you whether praise or condemnation is meant.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- The quotation occurs in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. en.wikisource.org
- Lucius speaks the line in Act V, scene iii. The wording "heinous tiger" is confirmed in the Yale edition. en.wikisource.org
- Lucius gives this order in the same final speech. en.wikisource.org
- The comparison condemns Tamora's cruelty. en.wikisource.org
- 3A comparatively small nation, or a group of such nations, whose economy is expanding rapidly.
Economists pointed to South Korea as a tiger whose exports doubled within a decade.
These small Asian tigers transformed their economies in a single generation.
UsageUsually with a place word or economic: the Asian tigers; a named one is often capitalized, as in the Celtic Tiger.
- 4An extinct striped marsupial predator of Tasmania and mainland Australia, Thylacinus cynocephalus, also called the thylacine.
Similarthylacine
Note
Further from the true tiger than the saber-toothed cats: the thylacine was a marsupial, not a cat at all, and its striped pattern was the whole resemblance. Thylacine is the exact name and Tasmanian tiger the familiar one. The bare word needs Tasmania already in view before a reader will understand it.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- Saber-toothed cats belonged to the cat family, making them more closely related to true tigers than the marsupial thylacine was. en.wikipedia.org
- The thylacine was a marsupial rather than a cat. collections.museumsvictoria.com.au
- The tiger comparison refers to its striped coat. nhm.ac.uk
- Thylacine and Tasmanian tiger name the same animal. nma.gov.au
- 5Any of the extinct saber-toothed cats of the subfamily Machairodontinae, named for their long, curved upper canines.
Visitors crowded around the skeleton of a saber-toothed tiger, its upper canines curving down well below its jaw.
Despite its name, the saber-toothed tiger was only a distant cousin of the striped cats found in Asia today.
UsageMostly in the compound saber-toothed tiger; saber-toothed cat is the exact name.
Similarsabertooth
Note
A loose name for another branch of the cat family. The Machairodontinae were extinct felids grouped apart from Panthera, the genus of the true tiger. They were cats, but calling them tigers rests on likeness rather than close kinship, which is why saber-toothed cat is the more exact name.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Machairodontinae were extinct members of the cat family forming a separate evolutionary branch. en.wikipedia.org
- The living tiger belongs to the genus Panthera. en.wikipedia.org
- Saber-toothed cats were cats but were not closely related to tigers. collections.museumsvictoria.com.au
- The tiger name reflects comparison with familiar cats rather than taxonomic identity; saber-toothed cat is more accurate. tarpits.org
- 6A predatory beetle of fast, agile habits, known for chasing down smaller insects.
- 7A moth of the subfamily Arctiinae (formerly the family Arctiidae), typically marked with bold stripes or spots on its wings.
A garden tiger, its wings boldly blotched in cream and brown, settled on the window screen.
The hairy caterpillars of these tigers feed on weeds before spinning their cocoons.
Note
Naturalists shorten the compound to its first word, so the tiger moth becomes simply a tiger, as in the garden tiger. The clipped form needs moths already in the conversation; out of context, say tiger moth. The same shortening gives the tiger beetle and the tiger butterflies their bare name, each resting on some likeness to the big cat.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- The insect names invoke likeness to tigers: coloration in moths and butterflies, and predatory behavior in beetles. entomologymanchester.wordpress.com
Less common meanings
- 8A leopard, the large spotted cat of Africa and Asia, in older or regional English usage.
The old farmer told of the tiger in the Cape mountains, a big spotted cat that took his sheep.
Locals warned travelers about tigers in the hills, the lithe spotted cats that hauled their kills into trees.
Similarleopard
Note
South African English has long used the Asian cat's name for the leopard, and the habit is dated but not dead. In Sir Percy Fitzpatrick's Jock of the Bushveld (1907), a character calls tigers "schelms" and is sure the kloofs are full of them. Because the true tiger is native to Asia, a tiger in a South African story is a leopard. Outside that setting, say leopard.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- South African English has historically used tiger for leopard, as in the South African setting described here. gutenberg.org
- Sir Percy FitzPatrick wrote Jock of the Bushveld, first published in 1907. jonathanball.co.za
- The character Jim calls tigers ‘schelms’ and believes there are many in the surrounding kloofs. gutenberg.org
- The true tiger is native to Asia. nationalzoo.si.edu
- 9A jaguar, the large spotted cat of Central and South America.
Similar is the test among the Moxos of Peru. One of their totems is the tiger; and a candidate for the rank of medicine-man must prove his kinship to the tiger by being bitten by that animal and surviving the bite.
1887, James George Frazer, TotemismNote
A name borrowed for the wrong continent: the big spotted cat of the Americas was once called by the Asian animal's name. James George Frazer's Totemism (1887) describes the Moxos, of what is now Bolivia, taking the tiger as a totem, and the animal meant is the jaguar. When older travel writing or anthropology puts a tiger in South America, read jaguar. In your own writing, call it a jaguar.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 7 facts
- The jaguar is a large spotted cat of the Americas. fws.gov
- The true tiger is an Asian animal. nationalzoo.si.edu
- Jaguars were historically called tigers. gutenberg.org
- James George Frazer wrote Totemism, first published in 1887. upload.wikimedia.org
- The Moxos are an indigenous people of present-day Bolivia. en.wikipedia.org
- Frazer describes a Moxos tiger totem and explicitly identifies the animal as a jaguar. upload.wikimedia.org
- Older writing about South American wildlife uses tiger to mean jaguar. gutenberg.org
- 10A liveried servant who rides in attendance on his master or mistress.
We arranged that I should come here alone in the London coach; and that he, leaving his tiger and cab behind him, should come on , and arrive here as soon as possible this afternoon
1836, “Boz” [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Sketches by “Boz,” Illustrative of Every-day LifeNote
A servant who was part of the dandy's equipment, like the cab he rode on. In Sketches by Boz (1836), Dickens has a man leave "his tiger and cab" behind. In Past and Present (1843), Carlyle mocks the dandy's "Long-Acre cabs with white-breeched tiger". The servant and the vehicle belonged together, so in period fiction a tiger is found riding behind a fashionable owner.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts
- A tiger was a servant associated with a fashionable owner's cab. gutenberg.org
- Sketches by Boz was first published in book form in 1836. commons.wikimedia.org
- Dickens's Sketches by Boz contains the quoted words about leaving a tiger and cab behind; Miss Julia says them about Lord Peter. gutenberg.org
- Thomas Carlyle's Past and Present was first published in 1843. searcharchives.bl.uk
- Carlyle mocks dandyhood using the exact quoted phrase. gutenberg.org
- Period fiction depicts a tiger riding behind a fashionable owner. gutenberg.org
- 11A boldly striped butterfly of the tribe Danaini, especially the subtribe Danaina, named for markings that recall the big cat.
- 12A final shouted word or phrase ending a cheer, delivered with a jump or outstretched arms.
. . . every blue coat in the audience sprang to his feet, with three times three and a tiger.
1941, Margaret Leech, Reveille in Washington - 13Any of the three Australian dragonfly species of the genus Ictinogomphus, marked with black-and-yellow stripes.
- 14A stylized, mythical cat-like beast depicted on a coat of arms in heraldry.
- 15A pan or box operated pneumatically and employed in sugar refining.
Practice
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Origin
Middle English tygre had two sources, Old English tigras and Anglo-Norman tigre, both from Latin tigris and Ancient Greek τίγρις (tígris). The Greek word was taken from an Iranian language (compare Avestan tigri, "arrow," and tiγra, "pointed") and may ultimately come from *(s)teyg-, a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to pierce, prick, be sharp," which is also behind English stick.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 7 facts
- Middle English tygre derives partly from Old English tigras and partly from Anglo-Norman tigre. en.wiktionary.org
- Both sources ultimately derive from Latin tigris. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin tigris derives from Ancient Greek τίγρις (tígris). en.wiktionary.org
- The Greek word was borrowed from an Iranian language. en.wiktionary.org
- The comparable Avestan words mean 'arrow' and 'pointed'. revistas.um.es
- The word may ultimately derive from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg-. en.wiktionary.org
- The root means 'to pierce, prick, be sharp' and also underlies English stick. en.wiktionary.org