woodchuck

wood·chuck

W0209100 (wo͝od′chŭk′)n. A large burrowing rodent (Marmota monax) of northern and eastern North America, having a short-legged, heavyset body and grizzled brownish fur. Also called groundhog; also called regionally whistle pig.

[By folk etymology, probably of New England Algonquian origin.]Word History: The woodchuck goes by several names in the United States. One is groundhog, the name under which legends about the animal's emergence from the ground on Groundhog Day have accrued. The word groundhog probably makes reference to the animal's excellent burrowing abilities. In the Appalachian Mountains, the woodchuck is known as a whistle pig, in reference to the shrill whistle it makes when disturbed. The word woodchuck is probably a folk etymology of a word in an Algonquian language of New England akin to the Narragansett word for the animal, ockqutchaun. English-speaking settlers in North America probably heard the Algonquian term and reinterpreted the first part of it as wood, which seemed to make sense in the name of an animal that often lives on the edges of woodland and in open wooded areas.

woodchuck

(ˈwʊdˌtʃʌk) n (Animals) a North American marmot, Marmota monax, having coarse reddish-brown fur. Also called: groundhog [C17: by folk etymology from Cree otcheck fisher, marten]

wood•chuck

(ˈwʊdˌtʃʌk)

n. a stocky North American burrowing rodent, Marmota monax, that hibernates in the winter. Also called groundhog. [1665–75, Amer.; presumably a reshaping by folk etym. of a word in a Southern New England Algonquian language]

Thesaurus

Noun

woodchuck - reddish brown North American marmotgroundhog, Marmota monaxmarmot - stocky coarse-furred burrowing rodent with a short bushy tail found throughout the northern hemisphere; hibernates in winter

Translations

woodchuck

groundhog,

common name of a North American species of marmotmarmot,
ground-living rodent of the genus Marmota, of the squirrel family, closely related to the ground squirrel, prairie dog, and chipmunk. Marmots are found in Eurasia and North America; the best-known North American marmot is the woodchuck, M.
..... Click the link for more information. , Marmota monax. This large rodentrodent,
member of the mammalian order Rodentia, characterized by front teeth adapted for gnawing and cheek teeth adapted for chewing. The Rodentia is by far the largest mammalian order; nearly half of all mammal species are rodents.
..... Click the link for more information. is found in open woods and ravines throughout most of Canada and the NE United States. Its heavyset body is about 2 ft (60 cm) long, excluding the 6 in. (15 cm) tail, and is covered with thick, coarse, brownish hair. A terrestrial, day-active animal, it feeds on green vegetation. It has benefited by the clearing of forests for cultivation, and, despite the attacks of farmers, its numbers have increased. It nests in a burrow of many compartments, where it also hibernates in winter. According to an old superstition the groundhog leaves its burrow on Feb. 2, Groundhog Day, and returns underground for six weeks if it sees its shadow; thus, a sunny Feb. 2 supposedly means six more weeks of winter. Woodchucks are classified in the phylum ChordataChordata
, phylum of animals having a notochord, or dorsal stiffening rod, as the chief internal skeletal support at some stage of their development. Most chordates are vertebrates (animals with backbones), but the phylum also includes some small marine invertebrate animals.
..... Click the link for more information. , subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Rodentia, family Sciuridae.

woodchuck

wood·chuck

woodchuck

wood•chuck

woodchuck

woodchuck

groundhog,

woodchuck

Synonyms for woodchuck

noun reddish brown North American marmot

Synonyms

Related Words