noun
aardvark
AHD-vahk
noun
1
A nocturnal, burrowing African mammal that eats ants and termites and somewhat resembles a pig with a long snout.
"The aardvark uses its long, sticky tongue to slurp up thousands of termites a night."
How to Use Aardvark
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA strange-looking African animal that digs burrows and eats ants and termites.
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It's famous in English dictionaries and word lists simply for being one of the first words alphabetically.
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aardvarks plural
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The _____ uses its long, sticky tongue to slurp up thousands of termites a night.
Etymology
From Afrikaans aardvark, literally "earth pig" — from aarde ("earth") and vark ("pig") — because Dutch settlers in South Africa thought the burrowing animal resembled a pig.