Musquashes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Semi-aquatic North American rodents with dense brown fur, often trapped for their pelts
2. Muskrats, the small water-dwelling rodents of North America valued for their thick fur
3. Plural of an old name for the muskrat, a North American water rodent prized for its pelt

Etymology: "Musquashes" is the plural of "musquash," the name for the muskrat, a furry semi-aquatic rodent of North America. The singular comes from Abenaki "moskwas," or from a closely related form in Massachusett, the language of the Algonquian peoples around present-day Massachusetts. Its cousin "musquaw" shows the same root, so the word arrived in English as a borrowing from Native American languages rather than from any European source. The plural simply adds the usual English "-es" ending, which is needed because the singular ends in a sound that an ordinary "s" would not separate cleanly from the plural marker.

Synonyms: muskrat