Dictionary

javelina en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /havəˈliːnə/ (UK)

Etymology

From Spanish javalina, jabalina, feminine form of jabalí (“wild boar”), from Andalusian Arabic جَبَلِي (jabalī) (in خِنْزِير جَبَلِيّ (ḵinzīr jabaliyy, “mountain pig”)), from Arabic جَبَل (jabal, “mountain”). Cognate with Portuguese javalina, and similar in other Iberian languages.

Meanings

1. (Canada, US) A peccary (Tayassuidae spp.), especially a collared peccary (Dicotyles tajacu).
   • Some well-mounted heads of deer and one of an enormous black javeli projected from the walls. 1903 February, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Hygeia at the Solito”, in Everybody’s Magazine, volume VIII, number 2, New York, N.Y.: John Wanamaker, →ISSN, page 174, column 2:
   • The Javelina (Peccari) is an animal peculiar so far as I know to Spanish America. 1831, Benjamin Lundy, editor, The Genius of Universal Emancipation, page 117:
   • We […] were ready to send some prickly pears to the next world when the most unfortunate group of javelina on earth walked into view. 2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 264:

Forms