den or burrow?

[jirickova]

Good afternoon,

could anybody tell me what is the difference between a den and a burrow?
Are they synonyms? Or some animals live at a den and another ones in a burrow?

Thanks,
Marketa Jirickova

[BobK]

Originally Posted by jirickova

Good afternoon,

could anybody tell me what is the difference between a den and a burrow?
Are they synonyms? Or some animals live at a den and another ones in a burrow?

Thanks,
Marketa Jirickova

The latter - it depends on the animal. Lions have dens, rabbits have burrows. There are other animal homes: wolves have lairs, beavers have holts. I don't think there's any rhyme or reason to it; but a burrow is always under the ground, usually a tunnel. Another difference between burrow and den is that burrow can be used as a verb: A rabbit burrows and in doing so makes a rabbit burrow.

:thinks: - 'a rabbit [no possessive] burrow' but 'lion's den'. Why? (Maybe if you had two burrows of different diameters you could say that one was 'a rabbit's burrow' and that the other was a weasel's. )

Hmm - I think I've asked more questions than I've answered.

b

[BobK]

Afterthought:

A system of burrows is a warren - which is used figuratively as often as literally (maybe more often):

Underneath the castle there was a [rabbit] warren of secret passages.

b