coypu en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˈkɔɪ.pu/
Etymology
From Spanish coipú, from Mapudungun koypu.
Meanings
-
A large, crepuscular, semiaquatic rodent (Myocastor coypus) resembling a large rat, having bright orange-yellow incisors, native to South America and introduced to Europe, Asia and North America, valued for its fur in eastern Europe and central Asia and considered a pest elsewhere.
We are walking south-west, down a gently increasing slope, with the old farm buildings of the tiny hamlet of Villemiers [in the department of Charente] visible on the other side of the valley a kilometre away. The Transon [a tributary of the river Charente] meanders in the bottom of the valley below, a lazy trickle of a stream with small muddy pools at intervals, home to numerous coypu, a South American rodent that escaped from fur-farms long ago and has found a home-from-home in the many rivers and lakes of the Charente. They are semi-aquatic, resembling beavers in all but their long, rat-like tails. They can be something of a nuisance, as they are great burrowers, creating huge holes in the banks just on the waterline, which does little harm in a stream, but can be disastrous in a man-made lake, since their burrows can puncture the dam.
2015, Dave Goulson, A Buzz in the Meadow: The Natural History of a French Farm, Picador, →ISBN, page 14:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| coypus | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| coypu | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Coordinates
beaver · capybara · muroid · more at Thesaurus:rodent
Hypernyms
creature · gnawer · critter · animal · organism · mammal · rodent · vertebrate
Synonyms
Translations (37)
de Schweifbiber (Myocastor coypus) · es coipo (Myocastor coypus) · nl beverrat (Myocastor coypus) · pl nutria (Myocastor coypus) · de Coypu (Myocastor coypus) · ru ну́трия (Myocastor coypus) · es coipu (Myocastor coypus) · sk nutria (Myocastor coypus) · de Schweifratte (Myocastor coypus) · pt caxingui (Myocastor coypus) · lt nutrija (Myocastor coypus) · ko 뉴트리아 (Myocastor coypus) · de Sumpfbiber (Myocastor coypus) · da sumpbæver (Myocastor coypus) · cs nutrie (Myocastor coypus) · ccc chiklo'ti (Myocastor coypus) · be ну́трыя (Myocastor coypus) · uk ну́трія (Myocastor coypus) · cmn 海狸鼠 (Myocastor coypus) · pt nútria (Myocastor coypus) · de Biberratte (Myocastor coypus) · fr ragondin (Myocastor coypus) · pt ratão-d'água (Myocastor coypus) · it nutria (Myocastor coypus) · fi nutria (Myocastor coypus) · arn koypu (Myocastor coypus) · bg нутрия (Myocastor coypus) · mk нутрија (Myocastor coypus) · tr su maymunu (Myocastor coypus) · ro nutrie (Myocastor coypus) · th นากหญ้า (Myocastor coypus) · pt ratão-do-banhado (Myocastor coypus) · eo kojpo (Myocastor coypus) · tr bataklık kunduzu (Myocastor coypus) · de Nutria (Myocastor coypus) · ja ヌートリア (Myocastor coypus) · tr koypu (Myocastor coypus)