iguana

noun ee-GWAH-nah Rare

Origin: From Spanish 'iguana', borrowed from Arawak 'iwana', a Caribbean indigenous language.

Usage Note

Iguana is feminine: l'iguana. The plural is regular: le iguane. In Italian it refers primarily to the green iguana (iguana verde) kept as an exotic pet. Note that qu in Italian makes a 'kw' sound, but gu before a vowel makes a hard 'gw' — so the pronunciation starts 'ee-GWAH-'.

Examples

"La mia amica ha un'iguana come animale domestico."

Natural Translation

My friend has an iguana as a pet.

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