ichneumon
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
ichneumon /ɪkˈnjuːmən/
▶noun
- 1 (also ichneumon wasp or ichneumon fly) a slender parasitic wasp with long antennae, which deposits its eggs in or on the larvae of other insects. [Family
Ichneumonidae : many species.]
- 2 the Egyptian mongoose. [Herpestes ichneumon.]
– origin C15: via L. from Gk ikhneumōn ‘tracker’, from ikhneuein ‘to track’.
'ichneumon' also found in these Oxford entries:
