Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

tatouay

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables
tatouay
IPA
10
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An armadillo (Cabassous tatouay), native to tropical South America; the broad-banded armadillo.

Etymology

From a compound word in a Tupi-Guarani language (compare tatu-ai), of which the first element is ultimately from Old Tupi tatu (“armadillo”). Compare Portuguese tatu, French tatou. The second element (ay or ai) may mean "wound" because of a belief that its fat was used on wounds, or "colored", or "worthless".

Inflected Forms

tatouays (plural)

Synonyms

cabassous cabassous unicinctus

Questions

What does tatouay mean?
An armadillo (Cabassous tatouay), native to tropical South America; the broad-banded armadillo.
Where does tatouay come from?
From a compound word in a Tupi-Guarani language (compare tatu-ai), of which the first element is ultimately from Old Tupi tatu (“armadillo”). Compare Portuguese tatu, French tatou. The second element (ay or ai) may mean "wound" because of a belief that its fat was used on wounds, or "colored", or "worthless".

How to pronounce tatouay

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “tatouay”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
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  4. Repeat and practice — Say “tatouay” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.