From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhyenahy‧e‧na (also hyaena British English) /haɪˈiːnə/ noun [countable] HBAa wild animal like a dog that makes a sound like a laugh
Examples from the Corpus
hyena• It was as easy as killing a hyena.• Look at singer Linda Hopper, quite literally hopping on the spot and grinning like a hyena in an amyl nitrate factory.• I am out here alone, unprotected, only a thin piece of plastic-canvas away from lions, buffalo, leopards and hyena.• Carrington's Self-Portrait of 1938-9 shows the artist seated in a room with a lactating hyena and a rocking horse.• The name of the elected man, the Faesis, means hyena.• No hyena wants to fight outside the pack.• Because of its well-endowed female, Aristotle believed the spotted hyena to be a hermaphrodite.Origin hyena (1300-1400) Latin hyaena, from Greek, from hys “pig” 