HOW TO PRONOUNCE
echidna
/ɪˈkɪdnə/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:33
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What does echidna mean?
noun
- Any of the small spined monotremes in the family Tachyglossidae, the four extant species of which are found in Australia and southern New Guinea.
proper noun
- A female monster who, along with Typhon, mothered the vast majority of the famous monsters and creatures of Greek mythology.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/ɪˈkɪdnə/
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
It might just as well have been like that of some other marsupial; or even like that of the totally different group of Monotremes, of which the only living representatives are the Echidna and the Ornithorhynchus.
In Hesiod we read, also, of three monsters: first, Echidna, "a serpent huge and terrible and vast"; second, Chimæra, a lion-like creature; and, thirdly, Typhœus, worst of all, a fierce, fiery dragon.
More book examples (1)
They are represented at the present day solely by the Ornithorhynchus and Echidna; and these two forms may be safely considered as relics of a much larger group, representatives of which have been preserved in Australia through some favourable concurrence of circumstances.