Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

ichneumon

/ɪkˈnjuːmən/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.64 in modern English

Syllables: ich-neu-mon
IPA: /ɪkˈnjuːmən/

16

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

3

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An Egyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon), found in Africa and southern Europe.

noun

An ichneumon wasp.

noun

a legendary animal, which kills crocodiles and dragons

Example Sentences

"when the Ichneumon is to grapple with the Crocodile, he walloweth his body in the mire, then lets the same drie and harden upon him[…]."
"Ada's unique Lorelei Underwing had died, paralyzed by some ichneumon that had not been deceived by those clever prominences and fungoid smudges."

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin ichneumōn, from Ancient Greek ἰχνεύμων (ikhneúmōn, “tracker”), from ἴχνος (íkhnos, “track, footstep”).

Origin

Source language: Ancient Greek

Word Breakdown

Root: ἰχνεύμων

Inflected Forms

ichneumons (plural)

Derived Forms

ichneumoned ichneumonized ichneumonology

Frequently Paired Words

ichnology ichnogram ichneumia

Synonyms

nems herpestes ichneumon

Questions

How do you pronounce ichneumon?: The recorded pronunciation is /ɪkˈnjuːmən/.
What does ichneumon mean?: An Egyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon), found in Africa and southern Europe.
Where does ichneumon come from?: It is traced to Ancient Greek.

How to pronounce ichneumon

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “ichneumon”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ɪkˈnjuːmən/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “ichneumon”.
Repeat and practice — Say “ichneumon” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.