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marsupium

[mahr-soo-pee-uh m]
noun, plural mar·su·pi·a [mahr-soo-pee-uh] /mɑrˈsu pi ə/.
  1. the pouch or fold of skin on the abdomen of a female marsupial.
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Origin of marsupium

1690–1700; < New Latin, variant of Latin marsuppium pouch, purse < Greek marsýppion, diminutive of mársippos a bag, pouch
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for marsupium

Historical Examples

  • Name a diminutive of marsupium, a pouch, from the form of the perianth.

    The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States

    Asa Gray

  • That there is more than one pouch makes a comparison with the mammary pouch rather than with the marsupium probable.

  • Mammals belonging to quite different Orders show traces more or less marked of a marsupium.

  • These are distinguished by the possession of a permanent nursery-pocket, the "marsupium."

  • These bones however have no connection with the marsupium, being nearly equally developed in both male and female.

    The Vertebrate Skeleton

    Sidney H. Reynolds

British Dictionary definitions for marsupium

marsupium

noun plural -pia (-pɪə)
  1. an external pouch in most female marsupials within which the newly born offspring are suckled and complete their development
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Word Origin

C17: New Latin, from Latin: purse, from Greek marsupion, diminutive of marsipos
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012