Alpaca

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ælˈpækə/

Definitions

1. A South American animal resembling a small llama, primarily bred for its soft and valuable wool that is used in textiles and handicrafts
2. A member of the camelid family, this creature is raised for its high-quality fiber and is typically found in mountainous regions of the Andes
3. A domesticated animal related to camels, known for its fine wool that is utilized in clothing and traditional crafts, native to the Andean mountains

Etymology: The animal's name arrived in English by way of Spanish, which took it from Aymara, the language still spoken across the Andean highlands of Bolivia, Peru and neighbouring areas. The Aymara word "allpaqa" is the name for the animal itself, a domesticated relative of the llama that has been kept for its fleece for thousands of years. Spanish speakers in the colonial Andes adopted the term as "alpaca", and it was from that Spanish form that English took it. The English word is therefore a borrowing from a colonial language rather than a native European coinage, and it reached English speakers together with the wool itself. Because the animal was first encountered in the highlands of South America, the name carries a trace of the Andean languages that were spoken there long before Spanish arrived.

Synonyms: llama, camelid, wool-producing animal, fiber animal, herbivore