LEMUR
What does "LEMUR" mean?
A tree-dwelling primate with a pointed snout and large eyes, native almost entirely to Madagascar.
Meanings
- Any of various primates of the suborder Strepsirrhini found mainly on Madagascar, with long tails and forward-facing eyes. A ring-tailed lemur sunned itself with arms outstretched on the rock.
Did you know?
- Linnaeus named lemurs in 1758 after the 'lemures', the restless ghosts of Roman mythology, because their nocturnal habits and staring eyes reminded him of spirits.
- Lemurs live naturally only on Madagascar and a few nearby islands; the island holds over 100 lemur species and a large share are threatened with extinction.
Word origin
Coined by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 from Latin 'lemures', the wandering spirits of the dead in Roman belief, for the animals' ghostly faces and nocturnal habits.
Remember it
LEMUR sounds like 'lemur lemures' - the Roman ghosts Linnaeus named them after.
A little poem
Ghost-named, ring-tailed thing-
an island built it alone,
an island can lose it.
haiku
Wordplay
- Why was the lemur such a good ghost at Halloween? It was already named after one.
What it teaches
What evolves on a single island has nowhere to flee when that island changes.
Quick facts
What does LEMUR mean?
A tree-dwelling primate with a pointed snout and large eyes, native almost entirely to Madagascar.
Is LEMUR a valid word?
Yes — LEMUR is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is LEMUR?
LEMUR has 5 letters and 2 syllables.
Where does LEMUR come from?
Coined by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 from Latin 'lemures', the wandering spirits of the dead in Roman belief, for the animals' ghostly faces and nocturnal habits.
What can LEMUR teach us?
What evolves on a single island has nowhere to flee when that island changes.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.