''vulpine'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''vulpine'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260822002005-00-⌔

vulpine - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

vulpine (comparative more vulpine, superlative most vulpine)

• Pertaining to a fox.
  • ✤ She dared not raise her eyes above the level of the tea-table, and she almost expected to see a spot of accusing vulpine blood drip down and stain the whiteness of the cloth.¹
• Having the characteristics of a fox; foxlike; cunning.

Noun

vulpine (plural vulpines)

• Any of certain canids called foxes (including true foxes, arctic foxes and grey foxes), distinguished from canines, which are regarded as similar to dogs and wolves.
  • ✤ The family Canidae${}^{[sic]}$ consists of two main subgroups, the vulpines (foxes) and the canines (wolves, coyotes, jackals, and dogs), and some intermediate “fox-dog” forms from South America.²
• A person considered cunning.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vulpīnus (“foxy, fox-like”), from vulpēs, earlier volpēs (“fox”), from Proto-Indo-European ﹡wl(o)p- (“fox”). Cognate with Welsh llywarn (“fox”), Ancient Greek ἀλώπηξ (alṓpēx), Armenian աղուէս (aġuēs), Albanian dhelpër, Lithuanian vilpišỹs (“wildcat”), Sanskrit लोपाश (lopāśa, “jackal, fox”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈvʌlpaɪn/
• Audio (US): 🔊
• Rhymes: -ʌlpaɪn

Printed 2026-08-22.

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Footnotes

1. 1910, Saki [pseudonym; Hector Hugh Munro], “The Bag”, in Reginald in Russia and Other Sketches, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 80: ↩

2. 1980, Michael Wilson Fox, The Soul of the Wolf, page 127: ↩

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