Word.ws English Dictionary

aardvark

UK/ˈɑːd.vɑːk//ˈɑɹd.vɑɹk/

aardvark noun: the nocturnal, insectivorous, burrowing mammal Orycteropus afer, of the order Tubulidentata and somewhat resembling a pig. Common in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

aardvark: the nocturnal, insectivorous, burrowing mammal Orycteropus afer, of the order Tubulidentata and...
Image: Theo Kruse Burgers' Zoo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

aardvark (plural aardvarks)

  1. The nocturnal, insectivorous, burrowing mammal Orycteropus afer, of the order Tubulidentata and somewhat resembling a pig. Common in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
    • The aardvark burrows in the ground and feeds mostly on termites, which it catches with its long, slimy tongue.
    • If ‘aardvark lover’ has that syntactic structure, then it determinately means “lover of aardvarks.2007 August 15, Wayne A. Davis, “Replies to Green, Szabó, Jeshion, and Siebel”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 137, number 3, →DOI

aardvark meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Arabic and Malay

aardvark in Tamil

பன்றி போல இருக்கும், எறும்பு தின்னி, எறும்புக் கரடி, ஆப்பிரிக்க எறும்பு தின்னி

aardvark in Bengali

mammal
আর্ডভার্ক arḍobhark, দক্ষিণ আফ্রিকার জন্তুবিশেষ dokkhin aphrikar jontubiśeś

aardvark in Arabic

mammal
خِنْزِير اَلْأَرْض ḵinzīr al-ʔarḍ

aardvark in Malay

mammal
ardvark, babi tanah
More languagesFewer languages
aardvark in Thai
อาร์ดวาร์ก
aardvark in Vietnamese
lợn đất

Synonyms of aardvark

All synonyms of aardvark

Forms of aardvark

pluralaardvarks
alternative formaard-vark
alternative formerdvark

Origin of aardvark

Borrowed from Afrikaans aardvark (now rare), erdvark, from aarde (“earth”, from Middle Dutch aerde) + vark (“pig”, from Middle Dutch varken). Early European colonists in South Africa noticed that the animal was similar to a pig, while aarde hints at the animal's habit of burrowing.

Words formed from aardvark

Phrases with aardvark

Questions about aardvark

What does aardvark mean?
Aardvark means the nocturnal, insectivorous, burrowing mammal Orycteropus afer, of the order Tubulidentata and somewhat resembling a pig. Common in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
What is aardvark in Tamil?
Aardvark in Tamil is பன்றி போல இருக்கும், எறும்பு தின்னி, எறும்புக் கரடி. See Aardvark meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is aardvark?
Aardvark is a noun.
How do you pronounce aardvark?
Aardvark is pronounced /ˈɑːd.vɑːk/ (UK).
What is the plural of aardvark?
The plural of aardvark is aardvarks.

Words near aardvark in the dictionary

  1. Aarburg
  2. aard-vark
  3. aard-varks
  4. aard-wolf
  5. aard-wolves
  6. aardvark
  7. aardvark cucumber
  8. aardvark cucumbers
  9. aardvarking
  10. aardvarklike
  11. aardvarks

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: aardvark (page history and authors); aardvark (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-aardvark.wav, aardvark.ogg.

Cite this entry: “aardvark.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/aardvark. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.