different between opossum vs didelphine

English

Etymology

From Powhatan aposoum (“white animal”), from Proto-Algonquian *wa·p-a??emwa (“white dog”); compare Ojibwe waabasim (“white dog”).

Sometimes falsely attributed to a Latin origin, as if from *oppossum; confer actual Latin possum (“I am able, I can”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /??p?s?m/
• (US) enPR: ?-päs??m, IPA^(key): /??p?s?m/ or in abbreviated form like possum, as /?p?s?m/
• Hyphenation: o?pos?sum

Noun

opossum (plural opossums)

1. Any American marsupial of the family Didelphidae. The common species of the United States is Didelphis virginiana.

Synonyms

• possum (US)

Derived terms

• water opossum (Chironectes minimus), yapock
• opossum mouse (Cercartetus nanus)
• opossum rat (Rattus marmosurus)
• opossum shrimp (order Mysida)
• shrew opossum (family Caenolestidae)

Descendants

• ? Irish: apasam

Translations

References

Further reading

• opossum in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• Didelphidae on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Didelphidae on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Corsican

Etymology

Borrowed from English opossum, from Powhatan aposoum (“white animal”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /o?pos?um/

Noun

opossum m (plural opossi)

1. opossum

References

• “opossum” in INFCOR: Banca di dati di a lingua corsa

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English opossum, from Powhatan aposoum (“white animal”), from Proto-Algonquian *wa·p-a??emwa (“white dog”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?o??p?.s?m/
• Hyphenation: opos?sum

Noun

opossum m (plural opossums, diminutive opossumpje n)

1. opossum, marsupial of the family Didelphidae

   Synonym: buidelrat

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?.p?.s?m/

Noun

opossum m (plural opossums)

1. opossum

Synonyms

• sarigue
• (Louisiana) rat de bois

Further reading

• “opossum” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Adjective

didelphine (not comparable)

1. Of, or pertaining to, opossums, of the family Didelphidae.