An animal of the canine genus, found in the desert of Zaara, beyond mount Atlas. It is about ten inches in length, with a pointed nose, long whiskers, large black vivid eyes, and remarkably swift of foot. Its color is a yellowish pale brown.
From Arabicزِيرْدَاو(zerdaw, “fennec”), possibly of Persian or African origin. Compare Persian زرد(zard, “yellow”) and the dialectal suffix و(-ow, -aw), creates nouns from adjectives.