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Glite Dictionary
Syrian hamster

Syrian hamster

2.7
A small, golden or light-colored pet hamster often kept alone
  • noun
  • /ˈsɪr.i.ən ˈhæm.stɚ/
translation icon : hámster sirio
  • The Syrian hamster runs in its wheel every night, keeping us entertained with its antics.

Examples

  • In Syrian hamsters with a high incidence of bicuspid aortic valves, cartilaginous metaplasia is quite common.

    Academic text (2007)

  • My son loves playing with his Syrian hamster because it is very friendly and playful.

  • Depending on the individual's genus and species, it might have plenty of different names, such as Cricetus cricetus (Common European Hamster) or Mesocricetus auratus (Syrian Hamster).

    Blog text (24)

  • We bought a Syrian hamster to keep as a pet, and it quickly became part of the family.

Synonyms

golden hamster
vsSyrian hamster
1.8

A small light brown pet animal that people keep in a cage

focuses on the species' origin rather than its color
Mesocricetus auratus
vsSyrian hamster
  • Specialized
8.0

A small golden hamster often kept as a pet

uses a plain species description instead of scientific naming

Surface Forms

Syrian hamster singular
Syrian hamsters plural

Morphology

Syrian + hamster

The meaning is directly compositional: 'Syrian' specifies origin/association with Syria and 'hamster' names the animal, so the phrase denotes a hamster of Syrian origin or species. This modifier+noun pattern is cross-linguistically common and easily inferable by a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.

Etymology

Syrian hamster is a simple name: Syrian shows it originally came from Syria and hamster is the small rodent. Because these golden hamsters became popular as 'pets', the name now means that common pet species.