bandicoot
UK /ˈbændɪˌkuːt/ · US /ˈbændiˌkut/ noun, verb
Forms bandicoots bandicooting bandicooted bandy-coot
- noun Any of various small marsupials of Australia and New Guinea, some with distinctive long snouts, of the family Peramelidae.
- noun A bandicoot rat; any of the genera Bandicota and Nesokia of rat-like rodents of southeast Asia.
- verb (Australia, informal) To steal growing root vegetables from a garden by digging the vegetable out but leaving the tops undisturbed.
Synonyms
Etymology
Ultimately from Telugu పందికొక్కు (pandikokku), from పంది (pandi, “pig, boar”) + కొక్కు (kokku, “bandicoot”); first used of Asian murids, now called bandicoot rats, thence applied to the Australian marsupials which bear some resemblance.
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [A corruption of the native name.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “bandicoot”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details