: a long-legged African wildcat (Felis serval) having large ears and a tawny black-spotted coat
Illustration of serval
Examples of serval in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the WebAfter earning a degree in exotic animal training and management from Moorpark College, she's worked with big cats: bobcats, servals, lions and tigers.—Phaedra Trethan, USA TODAY, 31 Mar. 2024 According to the team, the positive results of their tests — which involved an assembly of tigers, lions, leopards, lynxes, cougars, cheetahs, and servals, among others — indicate that vocal recognition is not a skill dependent on domestication.—Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 15 Feb. 2024 One of the warrants dated Dec. 8 and obtained by PEOPLE shows the animals found dead at the zoo include cranes and servals, as well as an alligator, llama and macaw.—Nicole Acosta, Peoplemag, 11 Dec. 2023 This area – spanning parts of modern-day Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Iran and more – is home to numerous small cats, including the caracal, serval, jungle cat and sand cat.—Jonathan Losos, Discover Magazine, 10 Aug. 2023 Bernal praised her social personality — lots of vocalization and chuffing, a tiger’s version of purring.
Sadler, who did his medical residency at the University of Tennessee which has an exotic cat rescue refuge, previously had performed amputations on a tiger and a serval.—Diane Bell, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 July 2023 With the longest legs relative to body size of any wild cat, the serval is also one of the fastest, able to run at speeds up to fifty miles per hour.—Discover Magazine, 15 Sep. 2014 During this annual event, community members wear lipatelo skirts made from leopard and serval fur and mishukwe headpieces topped by lion manes.—Catherine Garcia, The Week, 8 June 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'serval.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
French, from Portuguese lobo cerval lynx, from Medieval Latin lupus cervalis, literally, deerlike wolf
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