A small desert rodent with long hind legs and a long tail, often kept as a pet.
From Arabic jarbū' meaning 'desert rat' or referring to various small desert rodents. The word entered scientific Latin as gerbillus in the 19th century through French naturalists studying North African fauna. English adopted it as gerbil in the mid-20th century when these animals became popular as laboratory subjects and pets.
This cute pet's name is literally Arabic for 'desert rat'! European scientists studying North African wildlife in the 1800s kept the local Arabic names for animals they'd never seen before, and now millions of children have pets with ancient desert names.
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