What does echidna mean?

Definitions for echidna
ɪˈkɪd nəechid·na

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word echidna.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. echidna, spiny anteater, anteaternoun

    a burrowing monotreme mammal covered with spines and having a long snout and claws for hunting ants and termites; native to New Guinea

  2. echidna, spiny anteater, anteaternoun

    a burrowing monotreme mammal covered with spines and having a long snout and claws for hunting ants and termites; native to Australia

Wiktionary

  1. echidnanoun

    Any of the four species of small spined monotremes, also known as a spiny anteaters, found in Australia and southern New Guinea.

  2. Echidnanoun

    she-viper, a female monster

  3. Etymology: Through, from ἔχιδνα. Compare ἐχῖνος.

Wikipedia

  1. Echidna

    Echidnas (), sometimes known as spiny anteaters, are quill-covered monotremes (egg-laying mammals) belonging to the family Tachyglossidae . The four extant species of echidnas and the platypus are the only living mammals that lay eggs and the only surviving members of the order Monotremata. The diet of some species consists of ants and termites, but they are not closely related to the true anteaters of the Americas, which (along with sloths and armadillos) are xenarthrans. Echidnas live in Australia and New Guinea. Echidnas evolved between 20 and 50 million years ago, descending from a platypus-like monotreme. This ancestor was aquatic, but echidnas adapted to life on land.

ChatGPT

  1. echidna

    An echidna, also known as a spiny anteater, is a mammal that is one of only four species belonging to the family Tachyglossidae. It is one of the rare mammals that lay eggs. Found primarily in Australia and New Guinea, echidnas have a body covered with coarse hair and spines, a slender snout that functions as both mouth and nose, and a long tongue that is used to catch their insect prey.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Echidnanoun

    a monster, half maid and half serpent

  2. Echidnanoun

    a genus of Monotremata found in Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. They are toothless and covered with spines; -- called also porcupine ant-eater, and Australian ant-eater

  3. Etymology: [L., a viper, adder, Gr. 'e`chidna.]

Wikidata

  1. Echidna

    Echidnas, sometimes known as spiny anteaters, belong to the family Tachyglossidae in the monotreme order of egg-laying mammals. The four extant species, together with the platypus, are the only surviving members of that order and are the only extant mammals that lay eggs. Although their diet consists largely of ants and termites, they are no more closely related to the true anteaters of the Americas than to any other placental mammal. They live in Australia and New Guinea. The echidnas are named after a monster in ancient Greek mythology.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Echidna

    ek-id′na, n. a genus of Australian toothless burrowing monotremate mammals, armed with porcupine-like spines, laying eggs instead of bringing forth the young.—n. Echid′nine, serpent-poison. [Formed from Gr. echidna, a viper.]

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

  1. Echidna

    a fabulous monster that figures in the Greek mythology, half-woman, half-serpent, the mother of Cerberus, the Lernean Hydra, the Chimæra, the Sphinx, the Gorgons, the Nemean Lion, the vulture that gnawed the liver of Prometheus, &c.

U.S. National Library of Medicine

  1. Echidna

    An oviparous burrowing mammal of the order Monotremata native to Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. It has hair mingled with spines on the upper part of the body and is adapted for feeding on ants.

Mythology

  1. Echidna

    (Echid′na). A woman having a serpent’s tail. She was the reputed mother of Chimaera, and also of the many-headed dog Orthos, of the three-hundred-headed dragon of the Hesperides, of the Colchian dragon, of the Sphinx, of Cerberus, of Scylla, of the Gorgons, of the Lernaean Hydra, of the vulture that gnawed away the liver of Prometheus, and also of the Nemean lion; in fact, the mother of all adversity and tribulation.

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of echidna in Chaldean Numerology is: 6

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of echidna in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

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"echidna." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/echidna>.

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