agouti
UK[əˈɡuːti]US[əˈɡuːti]
n
a medium-sized rodent with coarse fur, native to central and south america.
n
the fur of this animal, typically having a pattern of alternating light and dark bands on each hair.
Etymology
the word 'agouti' entered the english language in the mid-18th century, borrowed from french. the french term was itself adapted from the spanish 'agutí', which was taken from the tupi-guarani languages of south america, where it was called 'akuti' or 'acutim'. this is a classic example of a loanword, where the name of a new world animal was adopted directly from the indigenous languages of its native habitat. the journey from tupi to english illustrates the flow of biological and cultural terminology following european exploration. its spelling and pronunciation were anglicized, but its morphological structure remains intact as a simplex word.
Analysis
this word is a loanword from a non-indo-european language and is not meaningfully segmentable into smaller morphemes within english.
Examples
the agouti, resembling a large guinea pig, plays a crucial role in rainforest seed dispersal.
the coat of the agouti has a distinctive grizzled appearance due to the banded hairs.
we spotted an agouti darting across the path during our hike in the amazon.