Klingon Word of the Day for Wednesday, June 24, 2026 Klingon word: woSwa' Part of speech: noun Definition: armadillo-like animal, hedgehog-like animal Source: QelIS boqHarmey [Klingon Alice] _______________________________________________ (Alice p.238-39): As it turns out, there's a Klingon animal that does roll itself up into a ball when in danger (that is, it pretends to be dead or inanimate or something). It's called a {woSwa'}. There's also a bug that does the same thing, and it's called a {woSwa' ghew}, suggesting that the rolling-up characteristic of the {woSwa'} is one of its defining features. (Lieven, 12/01/2021): In the original version, Alice plays a round of Croquet with hedgehogs as balls. In the Klingon version, those are {woSwa'mey}, animals that can roll up to balls, but they are not hedgehogs. They are more like armadillos. The discussion about this word came when I tried to distinguish the mouse from the hedgehogs. I first thought of using {Qa'Hom} for the mouse, but then realized that a) a titmouse is not a mouse, and b) according to KCD, it looks like a hedgehog. As this might have caused confusion, Maltz told me about the {woSwa'} and the {lIS'ab}. SEE: Qoqe' croquet (Earth game) (n) (Klingon Alice) neSngech dormouse-like animal (n) (Klingon Alice) lIS'ab rodent (n) - "This animal is more rat-sized than mouse-sized, but a {vIghro'} might well chase it. Its face kind of resembles that of a bat (though a bat is not a rodent)." [qep'a' 2021] SEE ALSO: tetlh roll ("down a hill like a log") (v) De'vID: Can {ron} ["roll, bank, be rolling"] be used for people, such as in martial arts or gymnastics? Okrand: Yes... IF it means that the person is rolling haphazardly. If the person is doing a somersault (rolling forwards or backwards in a reasonably controlled manner), the verb is {Hay}. If the person is rolling down a hill as if he/she were a log, the verb is {tetlh} (related to the noun meaning "scroll," though it's not used for scrolls... unless a scroll is rolling down a hill)." [De'vID & Okrand, 3/01/2019] -- Voragh Ca'Non Master of the Klingons