guinea pig

1. 1.

   a person who is subjected to experimental or other observational procedures; someone who is an object of investigation

   “the subjects for this investigation were selected randomly”

   “the cases that we studied were drawn from two different communities”

   Synonymssubjectcase

   Broaderperson
2. 2.

   stout-bodied nearly tailless domesticated cavy; often kept as a pet and widely used in research

   SynonymsCavia cobaya

   Broadercavy

Questions about guinea pig

What does guinea pig mean?

guinea pig means "a person who is subjected to experimental or other observational procedures; someone who is an object of investigation". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for guinea pig?

Close synonyms include subject, case, Cavia cobaya. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is guinea pig a common word?

guinea pig is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.