otter

CEFRB1

/ˈɒt.ə/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A water animal with brown fur and a long body.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A hairy man with a slender physique, in contrast with a bear, who is more thickset.

Examples

  • The air trapped in the fur of a sea otter helps it to float.

  • The otter was playing in the river.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
2

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. An aquatic or marine carnivorous mammal in the subfamily Lutrinae.

  2. The flesh or fur of this animal

  3. annatto (dye)

More examples

In context

  • The sea otter swam through the kelp forest.

  • […] the precious perfume called otter of roses.

  • 'The Aleuts come from a country far to the north,' he said. 'Their ways are not ours nor is their language. They have come to take otter and to give us our share in many goods which they have and which we can use.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The playful blank is a mammal that lives in rivers and eats fish.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English oter, otir, otur, otyre, from Old English otor, from Proto-West Germanic *otr, from Proto-Germanic *utraz, from Proto-Indo-European *udrós (“aquatic, water-animal”), from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“water”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Otter, Dutch otter, German Otter, Swedish utter, Norwegian oter, Icelandic otur, Sanskrit उद्र (udrá), Russian вы́дра (výdra), and Ancient Greek ὕδρα (húdra, “water snake”). Doublet of Hydra and hydra. More etymology under English water.