Word.ws English Dictionary

muskrat

/ˈmʌskɹæt/

muskrat noun: a semiaquatic rodent of the tribe Ondatrini.

muskrat: a semiaquatic rodent of the tribe Ondatrini
Image: Petar Milošević, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

muskrat (plural muskrats)

  1. A semiaquatic rodent of the tribe Ondatrini.
    • He also said that minks, muskrats, foxes, coons, and wild mice were found there, but no squirrels.1865, Henry David Thoreau, Cape Cod, Chapter IX. "The Sea and the Desert", page 187.
    • Later, dozing in the lamplight, he saw muskrats everywhere. Their small supple forms slipped busily along the floor at dusk, continually perfecting their burrows. He saw them pulling soft weeds and holding juicy roots in their tiny paws to eat.2020, Louise Erdrich, The Night Watchman, Corsair (2021), page 442
    Synonyms:
    musquash, ondatra, 'rat, rat
  2. Any of several shrews in the family Soricidae, especially an Asian house shrew (Suncus murinus).
  3. (obsolete) A bandicoot rat.

muskrat meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada

muskrat in Hindi

Suncus murinus
छछुंदर chachundar

muskrat in Tamil

Suncus murinus
மூஞ்சூறு mūñcūṟu

muskrat in Telugu

muskrat
కంపెలుక kampeluka
the muskrat
గంధాఖువు gandhākhuvu

muskrat in Kannada

Suncus murinus
ಸುಂಡಿಲಿ suṇḍili
More languagesFewer languages
muskrat in Sanskrit
गन्धाखु gandhākhu
muskrat in Arabic
فَأْرُ المِسْك faʔru l-misk
muskrat in Vietnamese
chuột xạ hương

Synonyms of muskrat

All synonyms of muskrat

Forms of muskrat

pluralmuskrats
alternative formmusk-rat

Origin of muskrat

Perhaps so called for its musky odour and because it resembles a rat, or perhaps called by an Algonquian name like the Abenaki moskwas, with the spelling altered under the influence of the English words musk and rat.

Words formed from muskrat

Phrases with muskrat

Questions about muskrat

What does muskrat mean?
Muskrat means a semiaquatic rodent of the tribe Ondatrini.
What is muskrat in Hindi?
Muskrat in Hindi is छछुंदर (chachundar). See Muskrat meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is muskrat?
Muskrat is a noun.
How do you pronounce muskrat?
Muskrat is pronounced /ˈmʌskɹæt/.
What is the plural of muskrat?
The plural of muskrat is muskrats.

Words near muskrat in the dictionary

  1. Muskophobes
  2. Muskophobia
  3. muskox
  4. muskoxen
  5. muskoxite
  6. muskrat
  7. muskrat root
  8. muskrat roots
  9. muskrat weed
  10. muskrats
  11. muskratty

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: muskrat (page history and authors); కంపెలుక (Telugu) (page history and authors); गन्धाखु (Sanskrit) (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)-Vealhurl-muskrat.wav.

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