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chipmunk

UK/ˈt͡ʃɪp.mʌŋk/US/ˈt͡ʃɪp.mʌŋk/
nounB2Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #8,985 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: chipmunks

A chipmunk is a small striped burrowing squirrel. A chipmunk on the path.

It carries food in cheek pouches that can hold as much as its own head. A chipmunk lives in a burrow rather than a tree, which is what separates it from a squirrel.

Rhododendrites · CC BY-SA 4.0

Definitions of chipmunk

  1. 1nounchipmunkA small striped burrowing squirrel.B2

    “The campers watched a chipmunk steal crumbs from under their picnic table.”

chipmunk is an animal.

Where it comes from

An alteration of chitmunk, from Ojibwe ajidamoo, said to mean one who descends trees headlong.

  1. oj

    ačitamo˙nˀ — squirrels

  2. English, today

    chipmunk

Built from

  • ačit- · oj — headfirst, face-down
  • ajijibizo · oj — he falls headfirst
  • ajidagoojin · oj — he hangs upside down

1832; alteration (influenced by chipping squirrel) of earlier chitmunk, from older oj ačitamo˙nˀ (“squirrels”) (modern ajidamoo), literally ‘those who descend headlong’, from ačit- (“headfirst, face-down”) (compare modern ajijibizo (“he falls headfirst”), ajidagoojin (“he hangs upside down”)). The English verb developed due to the high-pitched voices of the American puppet and cartoon chipmunks in the group Alvin and the Chipmunks, who later starred in a popular children's TV show in the 1980s.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

chipmunk in the wild

  • Chipmunks are found in North America, with the exception of the Siberian chipmunk, which is found primarily in Asia.

    Chipmunk

  • The aircraft is named after the chipmunk, a small rodent.

    De Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk

  • The eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus) is a chipmunk species found in eastern North America.

    Eastern chipmunk

  • The least chipmunk (Neotamias minimus) is the smallest species of chipmunk and the most widespread in North America.

    Least chipmunk

  • The yellow-pine chipmunk (Neotamias amoenus) is a species of order Rodentia in the family Sciuridae.

    Yellow-pine chipmunk

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.