Tyger

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A large wild cat with a tawny coat marked by bold black stripes, native to Asia and known for its strength and hunting prowess
2. A powerful carnivorous mammal distinguished by its orange fur with distinctive black stripes, found in forests and grasslands across Asia
3. A big striped feline predator with a muscular build and sharp claws, inhabiting Asian regions and regarded as one of nature's apex hunters

Etymology: The spelling "tyger" is simply an older form of "tiger," kept alive largely through poetry. Its ancestry runs back to an Iranian word, perhaps meaning "arrow" or "pointed," which the Greeks borrowed as "tigris" and applied to the animal, likely for its speed. The Romans took the Greek form into Latin as "tigris," and the word reached English both through Old English "tigras," which appears in the plural, and through Anglo-Norman "tigre," the French-influenced route that fed into Middle English "tygre." Behind all of this lies an Indo-European root meaning "to pierce, prick, or be sharp," which is also the source of English "stick." The animal's name thus traces back to an idea of sharpness, though the link to the animal itself is a matter of the Iranian word's meaning rather than anything about the beast's appearance.

Synonyms: tiger