meerkat (Afrikaans)
Where does "meerkat" come from?
The word 'meerkat' originates from the Middle Dutch 'meercatte,' a compound combining terms for 'sea' and 'cat.' While it originally referred to various species of monkeys, the term eventually shifted in Afrikaans to identify the small, social mongoose we recognize today.
Full etymology tree
- meerkat (Afrikaans), 'meerkat'
- inherited meerkat (Dutch), 'a guenon, vervet, talapoin or patas; one of a number of monkeys of the genus Cercopithecus, or of the tribe Cercopithecini'
- inherited meercatte (Middle Dutch)
- compound meer (Middle Dutch), 'border, boundary'
- inherited mēro (Old Dutch)
- inherited *maiʀō (Proto-West Germanic), 'comparative degree of *mikil (“big, large”): more, larger'
- inherited *maizô (Proto-Germanic), 'comparative degree of *mikilaz'
- inherited *méh₂-is-on- (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited *maizô (Proto-Germanic), 'comparative degree of *mikilaz'
- inherited *maiʀō (Proto-West Germanic), 'comparative degree of *mikil (“big, large”): more, larger'
- inherited mēro (Old Dutch)
- compound catte (Middle Dutch), 'cat'
- inherited katta (Old Dutch)
- inherited *kattā (Proto-West Germanic), 'cat'
- inherited *kattǭ (Proto-Germanic), 'female cat'
- inherited cattus (Latin), 'a cat'
- inherited *kattǭ (Proto-Germanic), 'female cat'
- inherited *kattā (Proto-West Germanic), 'cat'
- inherited katta (Old Dutch)
- compound meer (Middle Dutch), 'border, boundary'
- inherited meercatte (Middle Dutch)
- inherited meerkat (Dutch), 'a guenon, vervet, talapoin or patas; one of a number of monkeys of the genus Cercopithecus, or of the tribe Cercopithecini'
Direct ancestors
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris