aperea

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a wild South American cavy of the species Cavia aperea, closely related to the domestic guinea pig

   The aperea shelters in dense grassland and feeds mainly on vegetation.

Borrowed from Spanish and Portuguese apereá or aperea, ultimately from Tupi apere'a, the name of the animal. Natural-history writing adopted the South American name for a wild cavy now classified as Cavia aperea.

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