guinea pig

Definition of guinea pig

1 : a small stout-bodied short-eared tailless domesticated rodent (Cavia porcellus) of South American origin often kept as a pet and widely used in biological research

— called also cavy

2 : a subject of research, experimentation, or testing

Examples of guinea pig in a Sentence

He volunteered to act as a guinea pig in the experiment.

Recent Examples on the Web The Old Gold’s owners decided to use the bar as a guinea pig for their other three watering holes and will slowly begin reopening them in the days ahead. — oregonlive, "Life returns to normal – sort of – for North Portland’s The Old Gold bar after 100-day coronavirus closure," 1 July 2020 After a few weeks of development, with her husband, Stephen, as the guinea pig, Ellsworth started giving out samples to friends and neighbors. — Rachel King, Fortune, "The soda market is popping with new contenders. Will they stay or fizzle out?," 5 June 2020 But a guinea pig named Snow won’t be going anywhere, says his adopter, Emily De Wolfe. — Mandy Behbehani, SFChronicle.com, "Everybody in the Bay Area wants a furry friend for the pandemic," 3 June 2020 Many shelters, including the Cleveland Animal Protective League (APL) and Friendship APL in Elyria house small animals like rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, and rats. — cleveland, "Adopt, not shop: Why you should adopt a pet from an animal shelter," 20 Apr. 2020 Some sell more unusual fare, including live snakes, turtles and cicadas, guinea pigs, bamboo rats, badgers, hedgehogs, otters, palm civets, even wolf cubs. — Steven Lee Myers, BostonGlobe.com, "In Chinese markets packed with wildlife, a stew of emerging viruses," 25 Jan. 2020 The apartment is home to two parrots, a duck, a chicken, a quail, a rabbit, guinea pigs, two iguanas and a chinchilla. — NBC News, "Las Vegas bird rescuer still searching for pigeons wearing cowboy hats," 18 Jan. 2020 Alpacas aren't the typical animals enlisted for the program, which allows people to cuddle with pets like dogs, cats, bunnies, and guinea pigs to help lower their stress levels and provide other health benefits. — Benjamin Vanhoose, PEOPLE.com, "Therapy Alpacas Visit Seniors During Pandemic: 'Animals Have a Magical Way of Healing'," 30 Apr. 2020 When Dumb Friends League, a private animal shelter in Denver, put out a call for volunteers to foster dogs, cats, bunnies, guinea pigs and even horses, more than 2,200 people signed up. — Maria Puente, USA TODAY, "Adoptions, fosters empty shelter cages during COVID-19 crisis, but there will always be homeless pets," 29 Apr. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'guinea pig.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about guinea pig

Dictionary Entries near guinea pig

Statistics for guinea pig

Last Updated

10 Jul 2020

Cite this Entry

“Guinea pig.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/guinea%20pig. Accessed 14 Jul. 2020.

Keep scrolling for more

More Definitions for guinea pig

guinea pig

noun

English Language Learners Definition of guinea pig

: a small animal that is often kept as a pet

: a person or thing used for testing something

See the full definition for guinea pig in the English Language Learners Dictionary

guinea pig

noun

Kids Definition of guinea pig

: a small stocky South American animal that is a rodent with short ears and a very short tail and is often kept as a pet

guinea pig

noun

guin·ea pig | \ ˈgin-ē-ˌ

Medical Definition of guinea pig

: a small stout-bodied short-eared nearly tailless domesticated rodent of the genus Cavia (C. cobaya) often kept as a pet and widely used in biological research

— called also cavy

Keep scrolling for more