Guanaco
/wəˈnɑːkoʊ/noun
A wild South American camelid related to the llama, with a slender body, long neck, and thick woolly coat.
Did you know?Guanaco comes from Spanish guanaco, borrowed from Quechua wanaku, the native name for the animal long before Europeans tried to classify it.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-Columbian
Quechua
wanaku
“The native Andean name for the guanaco, the wild camelid of the high plains.”
16th Century
Spanish
guanaco
“Spanish adoption of the Andean animal name during the colonial period.”
19th Century
English
guanaco
“Borrowed into English as the name for the South American camelid.”
Modern English
English
guanaco
“The standard English name for the wild camelid Lama guanicoe.”