Word.ws English Dictionary

mygale

UK/ˈmɪɡəli/

mygale noun: a shrew or ferret.

Noun

mygale (plural mygales)

  1. (obsolete) A shrew or ferret.
    • These also shal be reputed among polluted things, of al that moue vpon the earth, the weesel and the mouse and the crocadile, euerie one according to their kinde, the migale and the camelean […] .1635, Holy Bible (Douay), Leviticus II.29–30
  2. Any of the former genus Mygale of large, hairy trapdoor spiders with four lungs and four spinnerets, now distributed in Mygalomorphae.
    • The Mygales are the most interesting creatures, and are called Mason spiders because they build their own houses in a very remarkable manner.1865, Eneas Sweetland Dallas, editor, Once A Week, volume XII

Forms of mygale

pluralmygales

Origin of mygale

Borrowed from Late Latin mygale (“field mouse”) (Vetus Latina), from Ancient Greek μυγαλέη (mugaléē, “shrew”) (used in the Septuagint to translate Hebrew אֲנָקָה, now generally thought to indicate a gecko or similar small reptile).

Questions about mygale

What does mygale mean?
Mygale means a shrew or ferret.
What part of speech is mygale?
Mygale is a noun.
How do you pronounce mygale?
Mygale is pronounced /ˈmɪɡəli/ (UK).
What is the plural of mygale?
The plural of mygale is mygales.

Words near mygale in the dictionary

  1. Myerson
  2. Myerson's sign
  3. Myersons
  4. myf
  5. Myfanwy
  6. mygale
  7. mygales
  8. mygalid
  9. mygalids
  10. mygalomorph
  11. mygalomorphic

Source and license

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