Word.ws English Dictionary

meerkitten

UK/ˈmɪəkɪtən/

meerkitten noun: an infant or juvenile meerkat.

Noun

meerkitten (plural meerkittens)

  1. (informal) An infant or juvenile meerkat.
    • Meerkats were jumping up and down in a state of great ferment. Suddenly, by the hundreds, they began diving into the pond. There was much pushing and shoving as the meerkats behind vied to reach the pond’s edge. The frenzy was collective; even tiny meerkittens were making for the water, barely...2001, Yann Martel, Life of Pi, Canongate, published 2003, →ISBN, page 267
    • I woke up at dawn covered from head to toe in a living fur blanket. Some meerkittens had discovered the warmer parts of my body.ibidem, page 276

Forms of meerkitten

pluralmeerkittens

Origin of meerkitten

Formed by the compounding of meer- (the first element of meerkat) with kitten (“young cat”). The analysis of the -kat element of meerkat as cat is supported by meerkat’s ultimate derivation from the Middle Dutch meercatte, believed to have been formed from mere (“lake”, “sea”) + catte (“cat”).

Questions about meerkitten

What does meerkitten mean?
Meerkitten means an infant or juvenile meerkat.
What part of speech is meerkitten?
Meerkitten is a noun.
How do you pronounce meerkitten?
Meerkitten is pronounced /ˈmɪəkɪtən/ (UK).
What is the plural of meerkitten?
The plural of meerkitten is meerkittens.

Words near meerkitten in the dictionary

  1. meeres
  2. meerest
  3. Meering West
  4. meerkat
  5. meerkats
  6. meerkitten
  7. meerkittens
  8. Meerlieu
  9. meers
  10. meerschaum
  11. Meerschaum Vale

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: meerkitten (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.

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