aardvark
/ˈɑɹd.vɑɹk/noun
aardvark is a noun meaning “The nocturnal, insectivorous, burrowing mammal Orycteropus afer, of the order Tubulidentata and somewhat resembling a pig. Common in some parts of…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled A-A-R-D-V-A-R-K and has 2 syllables, and it appears about once in every 4 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of aardvark is aardvarks.
What does aardvark mean?
noun
- 1
The nocturnal, insectivorous, burrowing mammal Orycteropus afer, of the order Tubulidentata and somewhat resembling a pig. Common in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
The aardvark burrows in the ground and feeds mostly on termites, which it catches with its long, slimy tongue.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce aardvark?
- UK /ˈɑːd.vɑːk/
- US /ˈɑɹd.vɑɹk/
Aardvark has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-aardvark.wav, En-us-aardvark.ogg, Aardvark.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of aardvark
- aardvarks plural
- aard-vark
- erdvark
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is aardvark?
Aardvark appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 60,074th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Aardvark in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense mammal:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | oryctérope |
| German | Erdferkel |
| Portuguese | oricterope, porco-da-terra, jimbo, porco-formigueiro, timba, timbo |
| Spanish | cerdo hormiguero |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does aardvark come from?
Borrowed from Afrikaans aardvark (now rare), erdvark, from aarde (“earth”, from Middle Dutch aerde) + vark (“pig”, from Middle Dutch varken). Early European colonists in South Africa noticed that the animal was similar to a pig, while aarde hints at the animal's habit of burrowing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).