Definition of cavy in English:
cavy
nounPlural cavies ˈkeɪviˈkeɪvi
A South American rodent with a sturdy body and vestigial tail.
Family Caviidae: five genera and several species, in particular the guinea pig
Example sentencesExamples
- Maya is a crested, dark-eyed gold guinea pig, or cavy, and she's the pride and joy of owner and breeder Keith Lakin.
- It includes two subfamilies: the Caviinae, the cavies and the familiar guinea pigs; and the Dolichotinae, the Patagonian hares or maras.
- The cavy's an animal from Patagonia, which as you know is in South America at the bottom.
- He keeps around 80 guinea pigs (also called cavies) on an allotment and feeds them beetroot - ‘the finest thing you can give them’ - which he grows himself.
- And only when they had taken a closer look at the almost complete skeleton did they realize they had a caviomorph, cousin to the modern cavy or guinea pig.
Origin
Late 18th century: from modern Latin cavia, from Galibi cabiai.
Rhymes
Davy, Devi, gravy, navy, slavey, venae cavae, wavy