- bandicoot
- bandicoot 1789, from Telegu pandi-kokku, lit. "pig-rat." Properly a large and destructive Indian rat; applied from 1827 to a type of insectivorous Australian marsupial somewhat resembling it.
Etymology dictionary. 2014.
bandicoot
Look at other dictionaries:
Bandicoot — Ban di*coot, n. [A corruption of the native name.] (Zo[ o]l.) (a) A species of very large rat ({Mus giganteus}), found in India and Ceylon. It does much injury to rice fields and gardens. (b) A ratlike marsupial animal (genus {Perameles}) of… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
bandicoot — ● bandicoot nom masculin (mot anglais, du telugu pandi koku, cochon rat) Nom commun à plusieurs mammifères marsupiaux. (Famille des péramélidés.) … Encyclopédie Universelle
bandicoot — ► NOUN ▪ a mainly insectivorous marsupial native to Australia and New Guinea. ORIGIN from an Indian language, meaning pig rat … English terms dictionary
bandicoot — [ban′di ko͞ot΄] n. [< Telugu pandikokku, lit., pig rat] 1. a member of either genus (Bandicota and Nesokia, family Muridae) of large rats, found esp. in India and Sri Lanka, that destroy grain and root crops 2. any of an order (Peramelina) of… … English World dictionary
Bandicoot — Peramelidae Péramélidés … Wikipédia en Français
Bandicoot — Taxobox name = BandicootsMSW3 Groves] image width = 200px regnum = Animalia phylum = Chordata classis = Mammalia infraclassis = Marsupialia ordo = Peramelemorphia (in part) subdivision ranks = Families and Genera subdivision = †Chaeropodidae *†… … Wikipedia
bandicoot — Soon after white settlement in 1788 the word bandicoot (the name for the Indian mammal Bandicota indica) was applied to several Australian mammals having long pointed heads and bearing some resemblance to their Indian namesake. In 1799 David… … Australian idioms
bandicoot — /ˈbændikut / (say bandeekooht) noun 1. any of various small, omnivorous, somewhat rat like Australian and New Guinean marsupials of the families Paramelidae and Peroryctidea. 2. any of the very large rats of the genus Bandicota, of India and Sri… …
Bandicoot — miserable as a bandicoot Extremely unhappy. Bandicoots are small marsupials with long faces, and have been given a role in Australian English in similes that suggest unhappiness or some kind of deprivation. The expression miserable as a bandicoot … Australian idioms
bandicoot — /ban di kooht /, n. 1. any of several large East Indian rats of the genus Nesokia. 2. any of several insectivorous and herbivorous marsupials of the family Peramelidae, of Australia and New Guinea: some are endangered. [1780 90; < Telugu pandi… … Universalium
