Link Centre Dictionary

spermophile

sper·mop·hile

UK/ˈspɜː(ɹ)məfaɪl/ uncommon

noun

1.

any of various terrestrial burrowing rodents of Old and New Worlds; often destroy crops

Synonyms

Origin

From Spermophilus from σπέρμα (spérma, “seed”) + φιλέω (philéō, “love”), hence, "seed-lover". This genus formerly included most of the terrestrial squirrels, but all of the North American species have been split off into separate genera.

Related words

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Parts

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.