spotted hyena

1. 1.

   African hyena noted for its distinctive howl

   Synonymslaughing hyenaCrocuta crocuta

   Broaderhyena

   Part ofCrocuta

Questions about spotted hyena

What does spotted hyena mean?

spotted hyena means "African hyena noted for its distinctive howl".

What is another word for spotted hyena?

Close synonyms include laughing hyena, Crocuta crocuta. 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 spotted hyena a common word?

spotted hyena is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.