liger
/ˈlʌɪɡə
/noun
The hybrid offspring of a male lion and a tigress. Compare with tigon.Even when crossbreeding creates a viable hybrid, the offspring often inherits multiple copies of each parents' chromosomes, or sets of genes (see photos of ligers, hybrids of lions and tigers)....
- We know that tigers and lions can produce hybrids called tigons and ligers, so it is likely that they are descended from the same original kind.
- A hybrid from a male lion and a female tiger is called a liger while a hybrid from a male tiger and a female lion is a tigon.
Origin
1930s: blend of lion and tiger.
Rhymes
- macrergate
- macro
- macro-
- macroaggregate
- macroaggregated
- macroalga
- macroalgal
- Macro-Algonkian
- Macro-Algonquian
- macroanalysis
- macro-axis
- macrobenthos
- macrobian
- macrobicyclic
- macrobiotic
- macrocarpa
- macrocephalia
- macrocephalic
- macrocephalous
- macrocephalus
- macrocephaly
- macrochaeta
- macrochaetae
- macrochaete
- macrochaetes