Other forms: hyenas
A hyena is a doglike African scavenger with a cackling cry. A pack of hyenas, the hyena's laugh, spotted hyena.
It is closer to a cat than a dog in ancestry, and the spotted kind hunts most of what it eats rather than scavenging, which is the reverse of its reputation. The clan is led by females, which are larger than the males.
1nounhyenaA doglike African scavenger with a cackling cry.
“At night we heard hyenas cackling somewhere out on the dark plain.”
hyena is an animal.
Greek hyaina names the animal, from hys, a pig, from the bristly mane.
Ancient Greek
ὕαινα
Latin
hyaena
Medieval Latin
hyēna
Old French
hiene
Middle English
hiena
English, today
hyena
From Middle English hiena, variant of hyene, from Old French hiene, from Medieval Latin hyēna, from Latin hyaena, from Ancient Greek ὕαινα. Displaced native Old English nihtgenġe literally “night walker”.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA