Etymology

From a reduplicated form of Proto-Baltic *war-, from Proto-Indo-European *wewer-, from *wor-, *wer- ‎(“squirrel, small forest mammal”), probably from *wer- ‎(“to turn, to bend”) (perhaps because of this animal's flexible body). Cognates include Lithuanian voverė̃, Old Prussian weware, Russian dialectal веверица ‎(véverica), вевёрка ‎(vevjórka), Belarusian вавёрка ‎(vavjórka), Ukrainian віверица ‎(vivéryca), вевірка ‎(vevírka), вивірка ‎(vývirka), Bulgarian веверица ‎(véverica), Czech veverka, Polish wiewiórka, Old High German eihhurno, eihhorno (< *aik-wer-nan, German Eichhorn, Dutch eekhoorn, Persian وروره ‎(varvarah), Latin vīverra ‎(“ferret”).^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [vaːvɛɾɛ]