CIVET

noun Etymology: Middle French ~te, from Old Italian zibetto, from Arabic zabād ~ perfume Date: 1532 any of various Old World carnivorous viverrid mammals with long bodies, short legs, and a usually long tail, a thick yellowish musky-odored substance found in a sac near the anus of the ~ (especially genera Civettictis, Viverra, and Viverricula ) and used in perfume