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jird

(jûrd)

Any of various small burrowing rodents chiefly of the genus Meriones found in arid regions of Africa and Asia, having large dark eyes and a long furry tail and including the domesticated gerbil.

[Colloquial Maghrebi Arabic jird, rat, jird, ultimately from Arabic juraḏ; see grḏ in the Appendix of Semitic roots.]

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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