margay

English

Leopardus wiedii, margay

Etymology

From Old Tupi marakaîá via Spanish margay, Portuguese maracajá.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)ɡeɪ, -eɪ

Noun

margay (plural margays)

1. Leopardus wiedii, a spotted cat native to Central and South America.

   Synonyms: kuichua, tree ocelot, tiger cat

   • 2002, Mel Sunquist, Fiona Sunquist, Wild Cats of the World, University of Chicago Press, page 137,

     In Costa Rica margays were once widely distributed in dense forest from the coastal lowlands to about 3,000 meters elevation in the interior mountains.

   • 2008, Kirk Smock, Guyana, Bradt Travel Guides, page 32,

     Margays are small and slim spotted cats (60cm/40cm/3.5kg) with long bushy tails and long legs with large feet.

     Typically found in mature forest, margays are nocturnal and arboreal, hunting mostly in trees (they can rotate their hind legs and descend a tree head first).

   • 2010, David Whyte Macdonald, Andrew J. Loveridge, Kristin Nowell, Chapter 1: Dramatis personae: an introduction to the wild felids, David Whyte Macdonald, Andrew J. Loveridge (editors), The Biology and Conservation of Wild Felids, Oxford University Press, page 38,

     The margay has broad feet, flexible ankles, and a long tail, all adaptations for arboreality (Nowell and Jackson 1996). In captivity, the margay is well known for its climbing and jumping acrobatics.

Derived terms

• marlot

Descendants

• → Korean: 마게이 (magei)
• → Japanese: マーゲイ (māgei)

Translations

Leopardus wiedii

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 長尾虎貓／长尾虎猫 (chángwěi hǔmāo)

• Dutch: margay (nl)
• Esperanto: margajo
• French: margay (fr) m, chat-tigre (fr) m, chat sauvage de la Nouvelle Espagne m
• German: Langschwanzkatze f
• Greek: µάργκεϊ n (µárgkeï)
• Irish: margae m
• Italian: margay m
• Japanese: マーゲイ (ja) (māgei)
• Malay: margay
• Maltese: margaj m
• Polish: ocelot nadrzewny (pl) m, margaj (pl) m
• Portuguese: gato-maracajá m
• Spanish: gato tigre m, tigrillo m, cunaguaro m, caucel m, maracayá m, margay (es) m
• Swedish: margaykatt c

Further reading

• Leopardus wiedii on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Leopardus wiedii on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• "Margay" on IUCN Red List

Anagrams

• Magyar

French

Noun

margay m (plural margays)

1. margay

Further reading

• “margay”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Spanish

Alternative forms

• maracayá

Etymology

Borrowed from or related to Portuguese maracajá, ultimately from Old Tupi marakaîá. Doublet of maracayá.

Noun

margay m (plural margays or margayes)

1. margay

   Synonyms: gato tigre, tigrillo, cunaguaro, caucel, maracayá

Descendants

• → English: margay
  • → Korean: 마게이 (magei)
  • → Japanese: マーゲイ (māgei)
• →? French: margay

Further reading

• “margay”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014