marsupium

American  

[mahr-soo-pee-uhm] / mɑrˈsu pi əm /

noun

marsupia plural

1. the pouch or fold of skin on the abdomen of a female marsupial.

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marsupium British  

/ -ˈsuː-, mɑːˈsjuːpɪəm /

noun

1. an external pouch in most female marsupials within which the newly born offspring are suckled and complete their development

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• marsupia
  plural

Etymology

Origin of marsupium

1690–1700; < New Latin, variant of Latin marsuppium pouch, purse < Greek marsýppion, diminutive of mársippos a bag, pouch

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

marsupium marsupia

The female generally carries the young for some time after birth in an external pouch, or marsupium.

From The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary Section M, N, and O by Project Gutenberg

Pterocarpus marsupium furnishes about Tellicherry the concrete exudation called kino, a powerful astringent used for tanning.

From The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c. by Simmonds, P. L.

Australia and Tasmania are the residence of the curious family of animals with pouches, called Marsupialia, from marsupium, signifying a purse or bag.

From Harper's Young People, March 2, 1880 An Illustrated Weekly by Various

Even so, however, the juniors take care always to keep tolerably near that friendly shelter, and creep back into it again on any threat of danger, exactly as baby-kangaroos do into their mother's marsupium.

From Science in Arcady by Allen, Grant

Ova in single or double or rarely several 659 packets, attached as ovisacs or egg-strings to the genital openings, or enclosed in a dorsal marsupium, or deposited singly or occasionally in bundles.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 6 "English Language" to "Epsom Salts" by Various

The band of marsupia had disappeared after the death of their leader.

From In Search of the Castaways; or the Children of Captain Grant by Verne, Jules

The whole pack, indeed, would have had little chance with these powerful marsupia.

From In Search of the Castaways; or the Children of Captain Grant by Verne, Jules