meerkat (English)

Where does "meerkat" come from?

The word 'meerkat' originates from the Middle Dutch 'meercatte,' which literally translates to 'sea cat.' Although the name suggests a connection to the ocean, it originally referred to a type of monkey, with the 'meer' element likely stemming from older terms for lakes or seas and 'cat' from the Latin 'catta.' Eventually, Afrikaans speakers applied this term to the small desert mammal we recognize today, despite its lack of relation to either monkeys or the sea.

Full etymology tree

• meerkat (English), 'Suricata suricatta, a small carnivorous mammal of the mongoose family, from the Kalahari Desert, known for its habit of standing on its hind legs.'
  • inherited 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'
      • compound meer (Dutch), 'lake'
        • inherited mēre (Middle Dutch), 'greater, larger'
          • inherited meri (Old Dutch), 'lake, sea'
            • inherited *mari (Proto-West Germanic), 'sea, lake'
              • inherited *mari (Proto-Germanic), 'sea, ocean'
                • inherited *móri (Proto-Indo-European), 'sea'
      • compound kat (Dutch), 'domestic cat, pussy, Felis silvestris catus'
        • inherited catte (Middle Dutch), 'cat'
          • inherited katta (Old Dutch)
            • inherited *kattā (Proto-West Germanic), 'cat'
              • inherited *kattǭ (Proto-Germanic), 'female cat'
                • inherited *kattuz (Proto-Germanic), 'cat'
                  • inherited cattus (Latin), 'a cat'

Direct ancestors

• meerkat (Afrikaans)
• meerkat (Dutch)
• mercat (English)
• मर्कट (Sanskrit)

Updated July 2026

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris