Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - viverrid

 noun  Etymology: New Latin Viverridae, from Viverra, type genus, from Latin viverra ferret; akin to Old English acweorna squirrel, Lithuanian vovere  Date: 1902 any of a family (Viverridae) of carnivorous mammals that include the civets, genets, linsangs, and in some classifications the mongooses and that are rarely larger than a domestic cat but are long, slender, and like a weasel in build with short more or less retractile claws and rounded feet  • ~ adjective