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coy·o·te (kī-ōtē, kīōt′)
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n.
1. A wolflike carnivorous mammal (Canis latrans) of North and Central America, having grayish-brown or yellowish fur, large erect ears, and a drooping bushy tail. Also called prairie wolf.
2. A firefighter who is sent to battle remote, usually very severe forest fires, often for days at a time.
3. Slang A person who smuggles undocumented immigrants into the United States, especially across the Mexican border.
[American Spanish, from Nahuatl cóyotl : coyō-, coyote (from Proto-Uto-Aztecan *kwa, coyote; compare O'odham ban and Serrano (Uto-Aztecan language of the San Bernardino Mountains) wahei, coyote, and Hopi kwew, wolf) + -tl, unpossessed singular noun suffix.]
(click for a larger image)
coyote
Canis latrans
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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