dormouse

UK: /ˈdɔː^rmaʊs/ US: /ˈdɔrˌmaʊs/ ,(dôr′mous′)

Inflections of 'dormouse' (n): npl: dormice

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

dor•mouse /ˈdɔrˌmaʊs/   n. [countable] , pl. -mice. 

1. Mammals a small, usually bushy-tailed climbing rodent.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

dor•mouse  (dôr′mous′), n., pl. -mice 

(-mīs′). 
1. Mammals any small, furry-tailed, Old World rodent of the family Gliridae, resembling small squirrels in appearance and habits.

• 1400–50; late Middle English dormowse, dormoise; etymology, etymological obscure; perh. Anglo-French derivative of Old French dormir to sleep (see dormant), with final syllable reanalyzed as mouse, but no such Anglo-French word is known

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

dormouse / ˈdɔːˌmaʊs/ noun ( -mice)

1. any small Old World rodent of the family Gliridae, esp the Eurasian Muscardinus avellanarius, resembling a mouse with a furry tail

Etymology: 15th Century: dor-, perhaps from Old French dormir to sleep, from Latin dormīre + mouse