indri

Meaning

Noun

• One of the largest living lemurs (Indri indri), native to Madagascar.

Origin

• Possibly from Malagasy endrina ("the lemur Indri indri"). A common explanation asserts that the word comes from the Malagasy indry (pronounced ) meaning “lo!” or “behold!”, or from indry izy, which guides shouted to the French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat (1748–1814) upon seeing the animal, and which Sonnerat mistook for its name, but it has been suggested that Sonnerat studied indris too closely for this story to be plausible.