Sengi

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small insectivorous mammal native to Africa, with a long flexible snout and resembling a shrew, often called an elephant shrew
2. An African mammal of the order Macroscelidea that looks like a shrew but is more closely related to elephants and hyraxes
3. A small, long-nosed, shrew-like creature found in parts of Africa, known for its quick movements and insect-eating habits

Etymology: This small, long-nosed mammal of eastern and central Africa is often called an elephant shrew, though it is not a true shrew. Its name was borrowed from Swahili, where the form probably came from another Bantu language. A related form, "sanje", appears in Giryama, a language of coastal Kenya, which points to the same Bantu source. The name is also a homonym. In Kongo, a word of the same spelling was borrowed from French "cinq", meaning five, and used for a five-sou coin. That word has nothing to do with the animal, so the two only look alike by coincidence.

Synonyms: elephant shrew