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Of all the creatures in the world that really frighten me - the hyena in Africa, the great white shark - leopard seals are near the top of the list. They're killers. If my team spots one, they'll pull me out of the water.
Lewis Gordon Pugh

Meaning of "hyena" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD HYENA

From Medieval Latin, from Latin hyaena, from Greek huaina, from hus hog.
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Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.
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PRONUNCIATION OF HYENA

hyena  [haɪˈiːnə] play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF HYENA

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Hyena is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES HYENA MEAN IN ENGLISH?

hyena

Hyena

Hyenas or hyaenas are the animals of the family Hyaenidae /haɪˈɛnɨdiː/ of the feliform suborder of the Carnivora. With only four species, it is the fourth-smallest biological family in the Carnivora, and one of the smallest in the class Mammalia. Despite their low diversity, hyenas are unique and vital components to most African and some Asian ecosystems. Although phylogenetically close to felines and viverrids, hyenas are behaviourally and morphologically similar to canines in several aspects; both hyenas and canines are nonarboreal, cursorial hunters that catch prey with their teeth rather than claws. Both eat food quickly and may store it, and their calloused feet with large, blunt, nonretractable nails are adapted for running and making sharp turns. However, the hyenas' grooming, scent marking, defecating habits, mating, and parental behaviour are consistent with the behaviour of other feliforms. Although long reputed to be cowardly scavengers, hyenas, especially spotted hyenas, kill as much as 95% of the food they eat, and have been known to drive off leopards or lionesses from their kills.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH HYENA


arena
əˈriːnə
Argentina
ˌɑːdʒənˈtiːnə
Athena
əˈθiːnə
ballerina
ˌbæləˈriːnə
carina
kəˈriːnə
Christina
krɪˈstiːnə
cleaner
ˈkliːnə
corvina
kɔːˈviːnə
Filipina
ˌfɪlɪˈpiːnə
Herzegovina
ˌhɜːtsəɡəʊˈviːnə
hyaena
haɪˈiːnə
kina
ˈkiːnə
Lena
ˈliːnə
marina
məˈriːnə
medina
mɛˈdiːnə
Messina
mɛˈsiːnə
Pasadena
ˌpæsəˈdiːnə
piscina
pɪˈsiːnə
pruina
pruːˈiːnə
tina
ˈtiːnə

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE HYENA

hydroxyproline
hydroxytryptamine
hydroxyurea
hydroxyzine
hydrozincite
hydrozoan
Hydrus
hydyne
hyenic
hyenine
hyenoid
hyetal
hyetograph
hyetographic
hyetographical
hyetographically
hyetography
hyetology
hyetometer
hyetometrograph

WORDS THAT END LIKE HYENA

brown hyena
Cartagena
catena
Cesena
gena
Helena
Jena
laughing hyena
Magdalena
Modena
novena
phenomena
plena
prolegomena
Saint Helena
scena
sena
Siena
spotted hyena
vena

Synonyms and antonyms of hyena in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «hyena» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF HYENA

Find out the translation of hyena to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of hyena from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «hyena» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

鬣狗
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

hiena
570 millions of speakers

English

hyena
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

हाइना
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

الضبع
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

гиена
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

hiena
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

হায়না
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

hyène
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Hyena
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

Hyäne
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

ハイエナ
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

하이에나
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Hyena
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

giống chó sói
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

கழுதை புலி
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

हाइना
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

sırtlan
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

iena
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

hiena
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

гієна
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

hienă
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

ύαινα
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

hiëna
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

hyena
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

hyene
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of hyena

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «HYENA»

The term «hyena» is very widely used and occupies the 21.436 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Very widely used
90
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «hyena» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of hyena
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «hyena».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «HYENA» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «hyena» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «hyena» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about hyena

EXAMPLES

4 QUOTES WITH «HYENA»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word hyena.
1
Bob Hope
A sense of humor is good for you. Have you ever heard of a laughing hyena with heart burn?
2
D. H. Lawrence
There's always the hyena of morality at the garden gate, and the real wolf at the end of the street.
3
Louis Leakey
Although we followed that hyena for the best part of half an hour, we never caught up with it.
4
Lewis Gordon Pugh
Of all the creatures in the world that really frighten me - the hyena in Africa, the great white shark - leopard seals are near the top of the list. They're killers. If my team spots one, they'll pull me out of the water.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «HYENA»

Discover the use of hyena in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to hyena and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Hyena Nights & Kalahari Days
In this fascinating account of scientific study among forbidding wilderness, a husband-and-wife team describe their trek to the Kalahari to study the little-known brown hyena.
Gus Mills, Margie Mills, 2010
2
The Hyena People: Ethiopian Jews in Christian Ethiopia
Hagar Salamon presents the first in-depth study of this group, called the "Hyena people" by their non-Jewish neighbors.
Hagar Salamon, 1999
3
Hyena
Louise Spilsbury. /A 803 GBJQ tile; ar'flis's4"c\“d Q; Q? _ ' 4J" A Day in the Life: Grassland Animals Hyena Louise Spi|sbury. Front Cover.
Louise Spilsbury, 2012
4
Hungry Hyena
Hyena runs as fast as the wind, so Fish Eagle must take advantage of his greed to get back at him for tricking her out of her food.
Mwenye Hadithi, 1994
5
The Hyena's Wedding: The Untold Horrors of Genocide
Set in the aftermath of the genocide in Rwanda, this novel dramatizes the difficulty of rebuilding a society that has been devastated by war.
John Rusimbi, 2007
6
Hyena and the Moon: Stories to Tell from Kenya
Gathered from some of the more than 40 ethnic groups of Kenya, these stories are brought to you both as original translations and as lively, ready-to-use retellings.
Heather McNeil, 1994
7
East African Folktales: From the Voice of Mukamba
THE. HARE. AND. THE. HYENA. The hyena and the hare were great enemies. The hyena wanted to eat the hare whenever they met. The hare, however, knew that the hyena was scared of the lion, although the hyena pretended that there was ...
Vincent Mũli wa Kĩtukũ, 1997
8
The Behavior Guide to African Mammals: Including Hoofed ...
Brown hyena pasting anal-pouch secretion on grass stem. crawling on the wrists (carpal-crawling), and lying with forepaws folded under are other distinctive family traits. The lower hindlegs look peculiarly loose-jointed in a galloping hyena, ...
Richard Estes, 1991
9
Exploring Mammals
ANATOMY: Striped. hyena. Aardwolf coat The aardwolf has a striped coat. That helps it stay hidden among the grass of the savannas where it lives. It is likely that many of its ancestors also had a striped coat for camouflage. Brown hyena coat ...
Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2007
10
Hyena: Who's Laughing?
Who's Laughing? Natalie Lunis. Sound Check Scientists who study spotted hyenas have learned that the animals make at least 14 different kinds of sounds. The most famous is the laugh—also called the giggle—which signals that a hyena is ...
Natalie Lunis, 2011

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «HYENA»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term hyena is used in the context of the following news items.
1
'Hyena' Is an Adult Crime Drama That Will Shock and Dismay
The title of Hyena refers to Michael Logan, the main character in this bloody British crime drama, a venal detective for the London Metropolitan ... «PopMatters, Jul 15»
2
Contest winner signs children's book at Pages
Former beach cities resident Doug Jantzen is signing his contest-winning book “Henry Hyena, Why Won't You Laugh,” at Pages this month, ... «Beach Reporter, Jul 15»
3
Real Housewives of NYC Recap: Girl Code Red -- Vulture
Did I start spinning around and shrieking like a hyena with an air horn lodged in my throat? No. I covered them with a blanket and asked if they ... «Vulture, Jul 15»
4
Marriage Equality Ruling Makes History -- Literally | Scott Bane
... medieval Bestiaries, fantastic imaginary biology written by medieval clerics, especially in their descriptions of the sexual natures of the hyena, ... «Huffington Post, Jul 15»
5
Botswana's Chobe: Of hippos, elephants and lion hunts
As we waited, somewhere away to our left just on the other side of the river bank we heard hyena whooping. Just moments before, we'd been ... «News24, Jul 15»
6
SEC Media Days 2015, Day 3: Schedule and How to Watch - Team …
He's not quite as bad as Bobby Petrino, whose press conferences could put a rabid insomniac hyena to sleep, but he's also not great. It will be ... «Team Speed Kills, Jul 15»
7
Lions and Tigers and Boris | San Antonio Spurs - NBA.com
A hyena almost ate Spurs forward Boris Diaw's dinner once. He also got too close to a hippopotamus and was chased away by an elephant. «Spurs.com, Jul 15»
8
And Out Come the 'H. s. Catcallus'
These non-silent observers can travel in sizable packs, communicating with chattering, hyena-like laughter and a strutting walk that recalls that ... «Pacific Standard, Jul 15»
9
The Rest Of Round 3 At J-Bay
Event MC Greg Emslie likened the matchup to the lion vs the hyena. Not a bad analogy. Parko is, after all, the 2012 World Champion and has ... «Surfing Magazine, Jul 15»
10
New hyena exhibit comes to Utica Zoo
Visitors to the Striped Hyena exhibit will get the chance to vote on what their names will be. Three names for both the male and female have ... «Utica Observer Dispatch, Jul 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Hyena [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/hyena>. May 2024 ».
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