SPERMOPHILE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does spermophile mean? 

• SPERMOPHILE (noun)
  The noun SPERMOPHILE has 1 sense:

1. any of various terrestrial burrowing rodents of Old and New Worlds; often destroy crops

  Familiarity information: SPERMOPHILE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPERMOPHILE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of various terrestrial burrowing rodents of Old and New Worlds; often destroy crops

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

gopher; ground squirrel; spermophile

Hypernyms ("spermophile" is a kind of...):

squirrel (a kind of arboreal rodent having a long bushy tail)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "spermophile"):

antelope chipmunk; antelope squirrel; Citellus leucurus; whitetail antelope squirrel (small ground squirrel of western United States)

Citellus lateralis; mantled ground squirrel (common black-striped reddish-brown ground squirrel of western North America; resembles a large chipmunk)

Citellus citellus; souslik; suslik (rather large central Eurasian ground squirrel)

Citellus richardsoni; flickertail; Richardson ground squirrel (of sagebrush and grassland areas of western United States and Canada)

Citellus variegatus; rock squirrel (large grey ground squirrel of rocky areas of the southwestern United States)

Arctic ground squirrel; Citellus parryi; parka squirrel (large ground squirrel of the North American far north)

Holonyms ("spermophile" is a member of...):

Citellus; genus Citellus; genus Spermophilus; Spermophilus (typical ground squirrels)