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tay·ra

(tīrə)

An omnivorous mustelid mammal (Eira barbara) of Central and South America, having a broad head, a long slender body, and short dense fur.

[From French tayra (name for the animal introduced by Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon in 1765 and taken from a 1741 account of Guiana by Pierre Barrère (1690-1755), French naturalist), probably ultimately (perhaps via Spanish; compare Honduran Spanish taira, jaguarundi, tayra) of indigenous American origin; perhaps akin to Wayampi (Tupian language of French Guiana) eila, tayra (the initial t- perhaps reflecting a Tupian prefix attached to nouns whose possessor is unspecified), Guaraní eirá, and Kali'na (Carib language of French Guiana) airá.]

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:

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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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