Meaning & use
Abyssinian
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A breed of slim, short-haired cat with a ticked reddish-brown coat and large ears.
Grammar: Countable: an Abyssinian, two Abyssinians.
Patterns
- an Abyssinian cat
Our Abyssinian climbs the curtains whenever she gets bored.
The Abyssinian is known for being active and curious.
They adopted an Abyssinian from a local breeder.
adjectivebefore a nounold-fashioned
Relating to Abyssinia, the old name for Ethiopia, or its people.
Grammar: Comes before a noun: the Abyssinian highlands.
The Abyssinian empire resisted colonization for centuries.
Explorers described the Abyssinian highlands in their journals.
Word forms
| plural | Abyssinians |
|---|
Common combinations
- Abyssinian cat
- An Abyssinian cat has a distinctive ticked coat.
- Abyssinian highlands
- The Abyssinian highlands rise above the Rift Valley.
- Abyssinian empire
- The Abyssinian empire has a long recorded history.
Synonyms and how they differ
- Ethiopian
- Ethiopian is the modern, standard term for people or things from Ethiopia, while Abyssinian is mostly historical.
Word family
- Abyssinia proper noun
- the historical name for Ethiopia
Commonly confused: Abyssinian or abyss?
Abyssinian vs abyss
An abyss is a deep, bottomless gap; it is unrelated to the cat breed or Ethiopia.
Practice
Which animal is an Abyssinian?
Choose one answer.
The Abyssinian is a well-known breed of short-haired cat. The other options are not what the name refers to.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “Abyssinian”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.