aardvark

noun

Etymology: Borrowed from Afrikaans aardvark (now rare), erdvark, from aarde (“earth”, from Middle Dutch aerde) + vark (“pig”, from Middle Dutch varken). Early European colonists in South Africa noticed that the animal was similar to a pig, while aarde hints at the animal's habit of burrowing.

1. The nocturnal, insectivorous, burrowing mammal Orycteropus afer, of the order Tubulidentata and somewhat resembling a pig. Common in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

   “The aardvark burrows in the ground and feeds mostly on termites, which it catches with its long, slimy tongue.”

   “If ‘aardvark lover’ has that syntactic structure, then it determinately means “lover of aardvarks.”