guinea pig

See synonyms for guinea pig on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a short-eared, tailless rodent of the genus Cavia, usually white, black, and tawny, commonly regarded as the domesticated form of one of the South American wild species of cavy: often used in scientific experiments or kept as a pet.

  2. Informal. the subject of any sort of experiment: I've volunteered as a guinea pig in several clinical trials.

Origin of guinea pig

1
First recorded in 1655–65

Words Nearby guinea pig

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use guinea pig in a sentence

  • The guinea pig was nestling in the corner of his box, and the cat and the tame rat had scampered into the house long ago.

    Beautiful Joe | Marshall Saunders
  • The young man put the guinea pig in his pocket, picked up his crutches, and we started down the sunny village street.

    Beautiful Joe | Marshall Saunders
  • Experimenting upon the virulence of the poison, Heloderma was made to bite a frog and a guinea pig.

British Dictionary definitions for guinea pig

guinea pig

noun
  1. a domesticated cavy, probably descended from Cavia porcellus, commonly kept as a pet and used in scientific experiments

  2. a person or thing used for experimentation

Origin of guinea pig

1
C17: origin uncertain: perhaps from old use of the name Guinea to mean any remote unknown land

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012