synonym of porquinho-da-índia · guinea pig (volunteer for an experiment)
çekim: çoğul cobaias
köken: From Old Tupi çobaîa (foreign), from a clipping of Old Tupi saûîasobaîa (guinea pig, literally “foreign tree rat”). The change of ⟨ç⟩ (pronounced /s/) to ⟨c⟩ (pronounced /k/) is irregular and likely stems from a misreading or misprint. Compare Spanish cobaya. The figurative sense is likely a semantic loan from English guinea pig.
target (object of an action, e.g. of affections, of research or of firing) · bogey (unidentified aircraft, especially as observed on a radar screen) · attraction, sight (interesting place to visit)
çekim: çoğul kohteet · tamlayan kohteen
köken: kohta- (“to meet, encounter”) + -e. Coined by Finnish physician and philologist Elias Lönnrot in 1836.