thylacine

American  

[thahy-luh-sahyn, -sin] / ˈθaɪ ləˌsaɪn, -sɪn /

noun

1. a wolflike marsupial, Thylacinus cynocephalus, of Tasmania, tan-colored with black stripes across the back: probably extinct.

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thylacine British  

/ ˈθaɪləˌsaɪn /

noun

1. Also called: Tasmanian tiger, Tasmanian wolf. an extinct or very rare doglike carnivorous marsupial, Thylacinus cynocephalus, of Tasmania, having greyish-brown fur with dark vertical stripes on the back: family Dasyuridae

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Etymology

Origin of thylacine

1830–40; < New Latin Thylacinus genus name, equivalent to thylac- (< Greek thȳ́lakos pouch) + -īnus -ine ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

thylacine

The company’s other de-extinction hopes include reviving the woolly mammoth, the dodo, and the thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2025

In recent years, scientists have aimed to clone the Tasmanian tiger or thylacine, an extinct marsupial.

From Salon ● Jun. 19, 2024

The Tasmanian tiger, a dog-sized striped carnivorous marsupial also called the thylacine, once roamed the Australian continent and adjacent islands, an apex predator that hunted kangaroos and other prey.

From Reuters ● Oct. 3, 2023

The Tasmanian tiger, also known as the thylacine, was a remarkable apex carnivorous marsupial that was once distributed all across the Australian continent and the island of Tasmania.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2023

Amongst other points Professor Huxley called attention to the resemblance between the anterior molars of the placental dog with those of the marsupial thylacine.

From On the Genesis of Species by St. George Mivart

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