# cheetah
## English
### Alternative forms

* chetah, cheeta (archaic)

### Etymology

Borrowed from Hindi चीता (cītā, “leopard, panther”), ultimately from Sanskrit चित्र (citra, “multicolored, speckled”) (akin to Old High German haitar (“bright”) > German heiter; Old Norse heiðr (“bright”)) + Sanskrit काय (kāya, “body”), thus “having a spotted body”.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈt͡ʃiːtə/, /ˈt͡ʃiːtɑ/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Rhymes: -iːtə
* Homophones: Chita; cheater (non-rhotic)

### Noun

cheetah (plural cheetahs)
* (zoology) A distinctive member (Acinonyx jubatus) of the cat family, slightly smaller than the leopard, but with proportionately longer limbs and a smaller head; native to Africa and southeast Asia (where it is nearly extinct) and also credited with being the fastest terrestrial animal.

#### Synonyms

* guepard (archaic), hunting cat, hunting leopard

#### Derived terms

* American cheetah (†Miracinonyx trumanii)
* cheetahlike
* do cheetah flips
* king cheetah

#### Descendants

* → Portuguese: chita
* → Spanish: chita

#### Translations

Afrikaans: jagluiperd (af)
Albanian: gepard m
Amharic: አቦሸማኔ (ʾäbošämane)
Arabic: فَهْد (ar) m (fahd), شِيتَه f (šītah)
Armenian: վագրակատու (hy) (vagrakatu), գեպարդ (gepard)
Assamese: চিতা বাঘ (sita bagh)
Asturian: guepardu (ast)
Azerbaijani: çita, gepard, qepard
Basque: gepardo
Belarusian: гепа́рд m (hjepárd)
Bengali: চিতা (bn) (cita)
Bulgarian: гепа́рд (bg) m (gepárd)
Burmese: သစ်ကျုတ် (my) (sackyut)
Catalan: guepard
Cherokee: ᏢᏓᏥ ᎠᎦᏣᏄᎳ (tlvdatsi agatsanula)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 獵豹 / 猎豹 (zh) (lièbào)
Czech: gepard m
Danish: gepard c
Dutch: jachtluipaard (nl) m or n, cheeta (nl) m
Egyptian: (ꜣby-mḥw m)
Esperanto: gepardo
Estonian: gepard
Finnish: gepardi (fi)
French: guépard (fr) m
Georgian: ავაზა (avaza)
German: Gepard (de) m
Greek: γατόπαρδος (el) m (gatópardos), τσιτάχ (el) m (tsitách)
Gujarati: ચિત્તો (citto)
Hebrew: בַּרְדְּלָס (he) m (bard'lás), צִ׳יטָה f (chíta)
Hindi: चीता (hi) m (cītā)
Hungarian: gepárd (hu)
Icelandic: blettatígur (is) m
Ido: gepardo (io)
Indonesian: citah
Irish: síota m, liopard fiaigh m
Italian: ghepardo (it) m
Japanese: チーター (ja) (chītā), 狩猟豹 (しゅりょうひょう, shuryōhyō)
Kazakh: қабылан (qabylan)
Khmer: ឆីតា (chəytaa)
Korean: 치타 (ko) (chita)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: yûzpiling (ku), yûz, çîta (ku)
Kyrgyz: гепард (ky) (gepard), куулан (kuulan)
Latvian: gepards m
Lithuanian: gepardas m
Macedonian: гепард m (gepard)
Malay:
Jawi: چيته
Rumi: citah
Maltese: ċita f
Maori: tīta
Marathi: चीता m (cītā)
Middle Persian: 𐭩𐭥𐭮𐭩 (yʿsy /⁠yōz⁠/)
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: үчимбэр (üčimber), гепард (gepard)
Mongolian: ᠦᠴᠢᠮᠪᠡᠷ (üčimber)
Navajo: náshdóí dilwoʼí
Norwegian:
Bokmål: gepard m
Nynorsk: gepard m
Ottoman Turkish: یوز (yuz)
Persian: یوزپلنگ (fa) (yuzpalang), چیتا (čitâ), یوز (fa) (yuz)
Polish: gepard (pl) m
Portuguese: guepardo (pt) m, chita (pt) f
Romanian: ghepard (ro) m
Russian: гепа́рд (ru) m (gepárd)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ге̏па̄рд m
Roman: gȅpārd (sh) m
Sinhalese: චීටා (cīṭā)
Slovak: gepard (sk) m
Slovene: gẹ̑pard (sl) m
Somali: harimacad
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: gepard m
Spanish: guepardo (es) m, chita (es) m or f, gatopardo (es) m
Swahili: duma (sw)
Swedish: gepard (sv) c, jaktleopard c
Tagalog: gepardo
Tajik: юз (yuz), гепард (gepard)
Tamil: சிறுத்தை (ta) (ciṟuttai)
Telugu: చిరుతపులి (te) (cirutapuli), చిరుతగండు (te) (cirutagaṇḍu)
Thai: ชีตาห์ (chii-dtâa)
Tibetan: ཤ་གཟིག (sha gzig)
Tigrinya: ቺታ (čita)
Turkish: çita (tr)
Turkmen: geçigaplaň
Ukrainian: гепа́рд (uk) m (hepárd), ґепа́рд m (gepárd) (rare spelling)
Urdu: چیتا m (cītā)
Uzbek: gepard (uz)
Vietnamese: báo săn, báo bờm, báo ghêpa
Welsh: llewpart hela m, tsita m
Wolof: tene mi (wo) :

### See also

* cheetah on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* Acinonyx jubatus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
* Acinonyx jubatus on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

### References

* ↑ Etymology in Merriam-Webster's Dictionary