Vulpine
/ˈvʌl.paɪn/noun
Relating to or resembling a fox, especially in cunning or slyness.
Did you know?The word comes from Latin *vulpes* (“fox”), and that same root also gave us *volpine* in older English and lives on in scientific names like *Vulpes* for foxes.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*wĺ̥kʷos?
“Not the source; fox has a separate, uncertain pre-Latin origin in Indo-European branches.”
Latin
Latin
vulpes
“fox”
Late Latin
Latin
vulpīnus
“of or pertaining to a fox”
14th Century
English
vulpine
“foxlike; crafty or sly like a fox”
Modern English
English
vulpine
“resembling or characteristic of a fox”