indri
/ˈɪndɹi/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.68 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A mostly Muslim ethnic group of Western Bahr el Ghazal, South Sudan.
noun
One of the largest living lemurs (Indri indri), native to Madagascar.
Example Sentences
- "Indri, the ſecond new genus, conſiſts at preſent but of two ſpecies, the Linnæan lemur indri and the laniger; the former of which is lemur brevicaudatus of Geoffroy [i.e., Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire]; and the latter indri longicaudatus of the ſame author."
- "The indris are distuinguished by having only thirty teeth. [...] The Indri (Indris laniger) is the largest known species of the lemurine Quadrumana, measuring when erect more than three feet in height, and is of very remarkable form. [...] The indris inhabit the forests of Madagascar. They are very gentle, and although not remarkable for intelligence, are trained by the natives (who call the indri, "the man of the woods"), to hunt, probably for birds."
- "The Indri (Indri indri; top left), the largest prosimian at up to three feet long (excluding tail) and 22 pounds, eats plant matter."
- "The indri inhabits coastal and montane rainforest from sea level to about 1,800 meters."
- "Indris are known for their calls, some of which are truly eerie and can be heard for miles in the dense undergrowth."
Etymology
Possibly from Malagasy endrina (“the lemur Indri indri”). A common explanation asserts that the word comes from the Malagasy indry (pronounced /ˈiɳɖʐʲ/) meaning “lo!” or “behold!”, or from indry izy (“There he is!”), which guides shouted to the French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat (1748–1814) upon seeing the animal, and which Sonnerat mistook for its name, but it has been suggested that Sonnerat studied indris too closely for this story to be plausible.
Word Breakdown
- Root: endrina, indry
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɪndɹi/
- British English: /ˈɪndɹi/
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Medicine, Biology.