tarsier
/ˈtɑ(ɹ)si.ə(ɹ)/noun
tarsier is a noun meaning “An insectivorous primate of the family Tarsiidae, having very large eyes and long feet, native mainly to several islands of Southeast Asia” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled T-A-R-S-I-E-R, and it appears about once in every 26 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of tarsier is tarsiers.
What does tarsier mean?
noun
- 1
An insectivorous primate of the family Tarsiidae, having very large eyes and long feet, native mainly to several islands of Southeast Asia.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce tarsier?
- /ˈtɑ(ɹ)si.ə(ɹ)/
- /ˈtaɹʃi.əɹ/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-tarsier.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of tarsier
- tarsiers plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is tarsier?
Tarsier appears about once in every 26 million words in written English, the 155,937th 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).
Tarsier in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense insectivorous primate:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | tarsier |
| German | Koboldmaki |
| Portuguese | társio |
| Spanish | tarsero, tarsio |
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 tarsier come from?
From French tarsier, from Latin tarsus, from Ancient Greek ταρσός (tarsós, “wickerwork mat"; "broad, flat surface"”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).