different between skunk vs opossum

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sk??k/
• Rhymes: -??k

Etymology 1

From an unattested Southern New England Algonquian word, cognate with Abenaki segôgw, segonku (“he who squirts (musk) / urinates”), from Proto-Algonquian *šeka·kwa, from *šek- (“to urinate”).

Noun

skunk (plural skunks)

1. Any of various small mammals, of the family Mephitidae, native to North and Central America, having a glossy black with a white coat and two musk glands at the base of the tail for emitting a noxious smell as a defensive measure.
   • 1634, William Wood, New Englands Prospect:

     The bea?ts of offence be Squunckes, Ferrets, Foxes, who?e impudence ?ometimes drives them to the good wives Hen roo?t […]

2. (slang, derogatory) A despicable person.
3. (slang) A walkover victory in sports or board games, as when the opposing side is unable to score.

   Coordinate term: shutout

4. (cribbage) A win by 30 or more points. (A double skunk is 60 or more, a triple skunk 90 or more.)

Derived terms

• drunk as a skunk
• skunk at a garden party
• skunky

Descendants

• ? Czech: skunk
• ? Danish: skunk
• ? German: Skunk
• ? Finnish: skunkki
• ? French: skunks
• ? Icelandic: skunkur
• ? Japanese: ???? (sukanku)
• ? Norwegian: skunk
• ? Polish: skunks
• ? Russian: ????? (skuns)
• ? Slovak: skunk
• ? Swedish: skunk

Translations

Verb

skunk (third-person singular simple present skunks, present participle skunking, simple past and past participle skunked)

1. (transitive) To defeat so badly as to prevent any opposing points.

   I skunked him at cards.

   We fished all day but the lake skunked us.

2. (cribbage) To win by 30 or more points.
3. (intransitive, of beer) To go bad, to spoil.

See also

• Mephitis
• Spilogale
• Conepatus
• polecat

Etymology 2

Blend of skinhead +? punk, influenced by the animal (Etymology 1).

Noun

skunk (plural skunks)

1. A member of a hybrid skinhead and punk subculture.
   • 2006, Pam Nilan, Carles Feixa, Global Youth?: Hybrid Identities, Plural Worlds (page 192)

     In the early 1980s, certain ex-punks joined them, becoming 'skunks' – a hybrid subculture of skinheads and punks.

   • 2011, Gerard DeGroot (quoting Brown), Seventies Unplugged

     […] mods, skins, suedes, smoothies, punks, skunks, rude boys, soul boys and headbangers […]

Etymology 3

From skunkweed (“certain highly aromatic marijuana”)

Noun

skunk (countable and uncountable, plural skunks)

1. (slang) Clipping of skunkweed (marijuana).
2. Any of the strains of hybrids of Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica that may have THC levels exceeding those of typical hashish.

Czech

Noun

skunk m

1. skunk (animal)

Further reading

• skunk in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• skunk in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English skunk.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sk??k/
• Hyphenation: skunk

Noun

skunk m (uncountable)

1. skunk, weed with a high level of THC

Swedish

Noun

skunk c

1. a skunk

Declension

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).