# ichneumon
## English
### Etymology

From Latin ichneumōn, from Ancient Greek ἰχνεύμων (ikhneúmōn, “tracker”), from ἴχνος (íkhnos, “track, footstep”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɪkˈnjuːmən/

### Noun

ichneumon (plural ichneumons)
* An Egyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon), found in Africa and southern Europe.
    Synonym: nems
** 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:when the Ichneumon is to grapple with the Crocodile, he walloweth his body in the mire, then lets the same drie and harden upon him […].
* An ichneumon wasp.
** 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin, published 2011, page 43:Ada's unique Lorelei Underwing had died, paralyzed by some ichneumon that had not been deceived by those clever prominences and fungoid smudges.
* (mythology) a legendary animal, which kills crocodiles and dragons

#### Derived terms

* ichneumoned
* ichneumonized
* ichneumonology

#### Related terms

* ichnology
* ichnogram
* ichneumia

#### Translations

Akan: please add this translation if you can
Arabic:
Egyptian Arabic: نمس m (nims)
Armenian:
Old Armenian: ինքնիմոն (inkʻnimon)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 埃及獴 (Āijí měng)
Dutch: ichneumon m
Egyptian: (ḫꜣtrw m)
Finnish: egyptinmungo, faaraorotta
Georgian:
Old Georgian: იქნამონი (iknamoni), გუელის-მბრძოლი (guelis-mbrʒoli)
German: Ichneumon m or n
Greek:
Ancient: ἰχνεύμων m (ikhneúmōn)
Latin: ichneumon m
Old English: nǣderbita m
Ottoman Turkish: فرعون فاره‌سی (firʼavun faresi)
Portuguese: saca-rabos m
Romanian: ihneumon (ro) m
Russian: ихневмо́н (ru) m (ixnevmón), фарао́нова кры́са f (faraónova krýsa), еги́петский мангу́ст m (jegípetskij mangúst)
Sanskrit: नकुल (sa) m (nakula)
Spanish: meloncillo m
Swedish: faraokatt (sv) c, faraoråtta (sv) c, egyptisk mungo (sv) c
Telugu: ముంగిస (te) (muṅgisa)
Turkish: firavun faresi
Welsh: llygoden Ffaro f, llygoden Ffrengig yr Aifft, ichnewmon m :

## French
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ik.nø.mɔ̃/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

ichneumon m (plural ichneumons)
* ichneumon

### Further reading

* “ichneumon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Latin
### Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἰχνεύμων (ikhneúmōn, “tracker”), from ἴχνος (íkhnos, “track, footstep”).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ikʰˈneu̯.moːn/, [ɪkʰˈnɛu̯moːn]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ikˈneu̯.mon/, [ikˈnɛːu̯mon]

### Noun

ichneumōn m (genitive ichneumonis); third declension
* Egyptian mongoose, Herpestes ichneumon
** ...deinde internecivum bellum cum ichneumone. ...and in the next place she has given it war to the death with the ichneumon.
    Pliny the Elder, Natural History, VIII.35
* ichneumon wasp, ichneumon fly
** ...mustela et cornix, turtur et pyrallis, ichneumones vespae et phalangia aranei... ...the weasel and the crow, the turtle-dove and the pyrallis, ichneumon-flies and spiders...
    Pliny the Elder, Natural History, X.95
* (mythology) a legendary animal, which kills crocodiles

#### Declension

Third-declension noun.

### References

* “ichneumon”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* ichneumon in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.