Gerbillus

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A genus of small, long-tailed desert rodents native to Africa and Asia that are closely related to true gerbils
2. The scientific name for a group of small burrowing rodents found in arid regions of Africa and Asia
3. A taxonomic group of small, jerboa-like desert mammals that dig burrows and feed on seeds and plants

Etymology: This word is a New Latin genus name, a scientific label rather than one from everyday speech. It rests on the French "gerbille", which was formed from "gerbo", a name for the jerboa, a small hopping rodent that these desert animals resemble. Naturalists then gave the French form a Latin shape by adding "-us", the usual ending for genus names. English took the word from the scientific name, which is why the animal many people keep as a pet carries a label first assigned by classifiers. The common name "gerbil" comes from the same French source, so the pet's name is still a taxonomic term at its root.