Sleuthhound

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈsluːθˌhaʊnd/

Definitions

1. A type of dog bred specifically for tracking scents and hunting prey
2. A canine breed known for its strong tracking ability and commonly used in hunting
3. A hound developed to follow trails and assist hunters by locating game

Etymology: Before "sleuthhound" described a dog, the first half of the word was simply a track. Middle English "sluth" came from Old Norse "slóð", meaning a track or trail, so a sleuthhound was literally a trail-hound: a dog that followed the scent a person or animal had left behind. Its earlier Middle English form was "slodogge", which spells out the same idea with a different second element. The word is a compound of two plain parts. "Hound" is the old general word for a hunting dog, and "sleuth" supplied the specialised sense of pursuing something by its tracks. Over time the compound was shortened in everyday use, and "sleuth" on its own came to mean a detective, a shift from the animal doing the tracking to the person doing it.

Synonyms: bloodhound, detective, tracker