marsupium

[mahr-soo-pee-uh m]

noun, plural mar·su·pi·a

[mahr-soo-pee-uh] /mɑrˈsu pi ə/.

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

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 of marsupium

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.
The Cambridge Natural History, Vol X., Mammalia
Frank Evers Beddard
Mammals belonging to quite different Orders show traces more or less marked of a marsupium.
The Cambridge Natural History, Vol X., Mammalia
Frank Evers Beddard
These are distinguished by the possession of a permanent nursery-pocket, the "marsupium."
Stories of the Universe: Animal Life
B. Lindsay
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)

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

Word Origin for marsupium

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