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cavy

English · Thesaurus

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cavy¹

  • /ˈkeɪ.vi/

Rhymes with -eɪvi

Where it comes from

From taxonomic name Cavia + English -y; the genus name Cavia was introduced by Dutch naturalist Willem Piso in his Historia Naturalis Brasiliae (1648), and the initial ⟨c⟩ was supposed to represent [s], but unaware of this, the spelling pronunciation became [k].

noun cavies

  1. Synonym of domestic guinea pig.

    Similar: domestic cavy, domestic guinea pig, guinea pig

  2. Any rodent in the Caviidae.

cavy²

  • /ˈkeɪ.vi/

Rhymes with -eɪvi

adjective more cavy · most cavy

  1. alternative Alternative form of cavey (“cave-like”). Asser stated that the British name was Tiuogsbane, which means "the cavy place," and is taken to refer to homes hollowed out of the soft sandstone.

cavy³

  • /ˈkeɪ.vi/

Rhymes with -eɪvi

Where it comes from

Variant of cavvy.

noun cavies

  1. alternative Alternative spelling of cavvy (group of saddle horses). Somewhere there must be an outfit that needed a wrangler on the home place, a helper to bring in the cavy for the cowboys and chore around for the cook.

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Cite this
MLA

"cavy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/cavy. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

cavy. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/cavy

Chicago

"cavy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/cavy.

BibTeX
@misc{cavy_2026,
  title = {cavy},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/cavy},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}