A small, pale-colored fox native to Central Asia, known for its adaptability to desert and steppe environments.
From Russian 'korsak,' which comes from Turkic languages. The word traveled along trade routes from Central Asian languages into Russian and then into English as naturalists documented Asian wildlife.
The corsac fox is surprisingly successful despite being smaller than most foxes—it survives in one of the harshest environments on Earth by being incredibly adaptable. Its name is one of the few English animal names borrowed directly from Russian!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.