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ra·tel (rätl, rātl)
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n.
A carnivorous mammal (Mellivora capensis) of Africa and Asia, having short legs and a thick coat that is dark below and whitish above. Also called honey badger.
[Afrikaans, from Dutch ratel, rattle (so called because of the animal's cry) (from Middle Dutch rātel, rātele; akin to Middle High German razela, rasela and Old English hrate, hratele, a kind of plant with rattling seed capsules), or from dialectal Dutch ratel, honeycomb (so called because of the animal's taste for honey) (akin to standard Dutch raat, honeycomb; akin to Old High German rāza).]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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