Saturdays are perfect days for canine surprises. Surprise—we’re talking about words related to canines other than dogs today!
The dog days of summer (meaning those months when the sun occupies the same part of sky as Sirius, the Dog Star) are the perfect time to revisit vocabulary related to canines. In an earlier post, we explored words related to dogs and to the root CAN- meaning dog. However, the family Canidae encompasses far more than just family pets. Wolves, coyotes, foxes, jackals, and other assorted canines both extant and extinct fill out the family tree. What lupine (of, like, or pertaining to wolves) and vulpine (of, like, or pertaining to foxes) vocabulary should you know?
foxy (adj) - appealing or attractive; sly, cunning, or crafty
jackal (noun) - someone who behaves in an opportunistic, dishonest, or servile manner; a scavenger
wolf (verb) - to greedily consume or devour
wolfish (adj) - savage, ruthless, or lascivious
vixen (adj) - an attractive or ill-tempered woman; a female fox
What canine words did we miss?
“The fox will catch you with cunning, and the wolf with courage.”
Coyote: a person who smuggles Latin Americans across the US border, typically for a high fee.
"at the bus station, there were coyotes offering to drive us to Los Angeles"