quagga

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an extinct southern African subspecies of plains zebra, striped mainly on the head and front of the body

   The last known quagga died in an Amsterdam zoo in 1883.

Borrowed through Afrikaans kwagga and Dutch quagga from a Khoikhoi word imitating the animal's call. The scientific name Equus quagga now uses the same word for the plains zebra species, while quagga alone usually denotes the extinct southern subspecies.

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