gerbil
UK/ˈdʒɜːbl̩/US/ˈd͡ʒɝbl̩/
gerbil noun: a member of one of several species of small, jumping, mouselike rodents of the subfamily Gerbillinae, native to Africa, India, and Southern Europe.
Noun
gerbil (plural gerbils)
- A member of one of several species of small, jumping, mouselike rodents of the subfamily Gerbillinae, native to Africa, India, and Southern Europe.
Verb
gerbil (third-person singular simple present gerbils, present participle (US) gerbiling or (UK) gerbilling, simple past and past participle (US) gerbiled or (UK) gerbilled)
- To rotate inside a monowheel or similar apparatus due to sudden acceleration or braking.
- To insert a small animal (typically a gerbil, supposedly) into one's rectum (a sexual practice in urban myth).
gerbil meaning in Urdu, Arabic and Vietnamese
gerbil in Urdu
- بیابانی چوہا
gerbil in Arabic
- small rodent
- عَضَل ʕaḍal
gerbil in Vietnamese
- small rodent
- chuột nhảy
Examples of gerbil in a sentence
- I keep my pet gerbil away from my brother.
- Look at that gerbil and his little grabbies! So cute.
- She is a raiser of gerbils.
Forms of gerbil
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | gerbils |
| alternative form (dated) | gerbille |
| alternative form (dated) | jerbil |
| alternative form (obsolete) | gerbill |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | gerbils |
| present participle US | gerbiling |
| present participle UK | gerbilling |
| past participle US | gerbiled |
| past US | gerbiled |
| past participle UK | gerbilled |
| past UK | gerbilled |
Origin of gerbil
From French gerbille, from Latin gerbo, from Arabic جَرْبُوع (jarbūʕ) or يَرْبُوع (yarbūʕ, “jerboa”). Doublet of jerboa.
Words formed from gerbil
- Anderson's gerbil
- antigerbil
- black-tailed gerbil
- Boehm's gerbil
- Burton's gerbil
- bushy-tailed hairy-footed gerbil
- Cape short-eared gerbil
- Cheesman's gerbil
- dune hairy-footed gerbil
- Emin's gerbil
- fat-tailed gerbil
- Flower's gerbil
- fringe-tailed gerbil
- gerbilarium
- gerbilectomy
- hairy-footed gerbil
- Harrington's gerbil
- Harwood's gerbil
- Hoogstraal's gerbil
- Indian gerbil
- James's gerbil
- Kemp's gerbil
- lesser short-tailed gerbil
- Mackilligin's gerbil
- Mauritanian gerbil
- midday gerbil
- Mongolian gerbil
- Namib brush-tailed gerbil
- Petter's gerbil
- Phillip's gerbil
- Przewalski's gerbil
- tamarisk gerbil
- Tarabul's gerbil
- Wagner's gerbil
Words that rhyme with gerbil
Questions about gerbil
- What does gerbil mean?
- Gerbil means a member of one of several species of small, jumping, mouselike rodents of the subfamily Gerbillinae, native to Africa, India, and Southern Europe.
- What is gerbil in Urdu?
- Gerbil in Urdu is بیابانی چوہا. See Gerbil meaning in Urdu.
- What part of speech is gerbil?
- Gerbil can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce gerbil?
- Gerbil is pronounced /ˈd͡ʒɝbl̩/ (US).
- What is the plural of gerbil?
- The plural of gerbil is gerbils.
Words near gerbil in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: gerbil (page history and authors); gerbil (Urdu 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: En-au-gerbil.ogg.
Cite this entry: “gerbil.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gerbil. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.