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Webster 1913 Edition

Echidna

‖

E-chid′na

(ē̍-kĭd′nȧ)
,
Noun.
[L., a viper, adder, Gr.
ἔχιδνα
.]
1.
(Gr. Myth.)
A monster, half maid and half serpent.
2.
(Zoöl.)
A genus of
Monotremata
found in Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. They are toothless and covered with spines; – called also
porcupine ant-eater
, and
Australian ant-eater
.

Definition 2024

Echidna

Echidna

See also: echidna and echidnă

Translingual

Echidna nebulosa

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Ἔχιδνα ‎(Ékhidna, “Echidna”), from ἔχιδνα ‎(ékhidna, “viper”).

Proper noun

Echidna f

  1. A taxonomic genus within the family Muraenidae – some moray eels.

Hypernyms

Hyponyms

English

Echidna depicted on a kylix, ca. 510 BCE

Proper noun

Echidna

  1. (Greek mythology) A female monster who, along with Typhon, mothered the vast majority of the famous monsters and creatures of Greek mythology.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, V.11:
      Horrible, hideous, and of hellish race, / Borne of the brooding of Echidna base, / Or other like infernall furies kinde […].

Translations

Anagrams

echidna

echidna

See also: Echidna and echidnă

English

An echidna

Noun

echidna ‎(plural echidnas or echidnae)

  1. Any of the species of small spined monotremes in family Tachyglossidae, the four extant species of which are found in Australia and southern New Guinea.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Anagrams

Italian

Noun

echidna f ‎(plural echidne)

  1. echidna

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Ἔχιδνα ‎(Ékhidna, “Echidna”), from ἔχιδνα ‎(ékhidna, “viper”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɪˈkɪd.nə/, /əˈkɪd.nə/

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