of, relating to, or belonging to the Viverridae, a family of small to medium-sized predatory mammals of Eurasia and Africa, including genets, civets, and mongooses: order Carnivora (carnivores)
noun
2.
any animal belonging to the family Viverridae
Word origin
C19: from New Latin viverrīnus, from Latin viverra a ferret
viverrine in American English
(vaiˈverain, -ɪn, vɪ-)
adjective
1.
of or pertaining to the Viverridae, a family of small carnivorous mammals including the civets, genets, palm cats, etc
noun
2.
a viverrine animal
Word origin
[1790–1800; ‹ NL viverrīnus, equiv. to Viverr(a) a genus name (L vīverra the ferret or a similar animal; akin to Lith voverė̃, ORuss věveritsa, OE ācwern, OHG eihhurno squirrel) + -īnus-ine1]This word is first recorded in the period 1790–1800. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: cannibalism, methodology, rationalism, silhouette, stereotype-ine is a suffix of adjectives of Greek or Latin origin, meaning “of or pertaining to,”“of the nature of,” “made of,” “like”. Other words that use the affix -ine include: asinine, crystalline, equine, marine