aardwolf
aard·wolf/ˈɑɹdˌwʊlf/noun
aardwolf is a noun meaning “A nocturnal, insectivorous mammal (Proteles cristatus), having yellowish fur with vertical black stripes, and a long mane down the midline of the…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled A-A-R-D-W-O-L-F and has 2 syllables (aard·wolf), and it appears about once in every 78 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of aardwolf is aardwolves; Wiktionary also lists aardwolfs (rare).
What does aardwolf mean?
noun
- 1
A nocturnal, insectivorous mammal (Proteles cristatus), having yellowish fur with vertical black stripes, and a long mane down the midline of the neck and back; it is related to and resembles the hyena, and is native to eastern and southern Africa.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce aardwolf?
- UK /ˈɑːdwʊlf/
- US /ˈɑɹdˌwʊlf/
- /ˈɑːdvɒlf/
Aardwolf has 2 syllables, split aard·wolf in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-aardwolf.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-aardwolf.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of aardwolf
- aardwolves plural
- aardwolfs plural, rare
- aard-wolf
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is aardwolf?
Aardwolf appears about once in every 78 million words in written English, the 279,513th 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).
Aardwolf in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Proteles cristatus:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | loup fouisseur, protèle |
| German | Erdwolf |
| Portuguese | lobo-da-terra, protelo |
| Spanish | lobo de tierra, proteles |
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.