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hamster

UK/ˈhæm(p)stə/US/ˈhæm(p)stɚ/
nounA2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #5,737 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: hamsters

A hamster is a small pet that stores food in its cheeks and runs in a wheel. Feed the hamster, a hamster cage, the hamster escaped.

The cheek pouches stretch back to the shoulders and can carry nearly half the animal's own weight. Nearly every pet golden hamster descends from one litter found in Syria in 1930. They are nocturnal, which is why the wheel turns at night.

Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0

Definitions of hamster

  1. 1nounhamsterA small rodent kept as a pet.A2+

    “The hamster ran round and round on its wheel all night.”

hamster is an animal.

Where it comes from

From German Hamster, from an older Germanic word for the animal, itself probably from a Slavic source.

  1. German

    Hamster

  2. English, today

    hamster

German Hamster (see for etymology). Displaced earlier term German rat.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Animals

Practise this word

hamster in the wild

  • The best-known species of hamster is the golden or Syrian hamster (Mesocricetus auratus), which is the type most commonly kept as a pet.

    Hamster

  • The golden hamster or Syrian hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) is a rodent belonging to the hamster subfamily, Cricetinae.

    Golden hamster

  • Thus, wild golden hamsters are now considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

    Golden hamster

  • Features of the winter white hamster include a typically thick, dark grey dorsal stripe and furry feet.

    Winter white dwarf hamster

  • The winter white is known to be one of the most tamable types of hamsters.

    Winter white dwarf hamster

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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.