Acouchi

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small burrowing rodent native to South America, related to the agouti and paca
2. A diminutive South American mammal of the family Dasyproctidae, resembling a tiny deer-like creature
3. A small rodent species found in tropical regions of South America, characterized by a stocky body and short legs

Etymology: The acouchi is a small rodent of South America, and its name is a borrowing from the languages of the region rather than from European Latin or Greek. French naturalists adopted it, and the form "acouchi" most likely came into French from the Old Tupi name "akuti", the same root that gave English "agouti". The two words are close cousins: both describe closely related animals of the same family, so the names were simply recorded in slightly different forms by different travellers and collectors. The chain of borrowing runs from an indigenous Brazilian language, through French, into English. Early European writers encountered these animals in the Americas and wrote down the local names as best they could, so the spelling reflects the ear of the recorder as much as the original Tupi sound.