ichneumon

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an ichneumon wasp, a usually slender parasitoid wasp whose larvae develop in or on other arthropods

   The ichneumon used its ovipositor to place an egg inside the caterpillar.

2. 2
   noun

   the Egyptian mongoose, a long-bodied mammal native to Africa and parts of southern Europe and Asia

   The ichneumon hunted rodents along the edge of the marsh.

Through Latin ichneumon from Greek ichneumon, 'tracker,' from ichnos, 'track or footprint.' Greek writers used the name for a tracking animal and for a wasp that hunted other creatures; English preserves both the mongoose and parasitoid-wasp senses.

Topics