Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel

noun

One of the native people of Papua New Guinea who, during the Second World War, helped escort or stretcher wounded Australian soldiers to field hospitals.

First used 1942.

Meanings

nounFuzzy Wuzzy Angel (plural Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels)

plural Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels

  1. AustraliainformalOne of the native people of Papua New Guinea who, during the Second World War, helped escort or stretcher wounded Australian soldiers to field hospitals.First known use 1942.

    2012, Peter Williams, Kokoda for Dummies, Australian Edition, page 245, Chances are the person to whom you′re speaking is the descendant of an indigenous veteran or Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel.

    2 more examples

    Yet the statue is drawn from one of the most famous of all Australian images: the photograph from World War II of a blind, wounded soldier being guided down a jungle track by a Papuan carrier, a ‘fuzzy wuzzy angel’.

    2002, Don Watson, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: A Portrait of Paul Keating PM, page 251

    I want to commend the motion passed this week because it calls for the immediate determination of a new award and medal to be presented to the fuzzy wuzzy angels, who carried stretchers, stores and wounded diggers directly on their shoulders over some of the toughest terrain in the world.

    2008, Australian House of Representatives, Parliamentary Debates Australia: House of Representatives, volume 135, page 6150

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

First attested in Sapper Bert Beros′s 1942 poem Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels, and popularised by the Australian wartime press.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Fuzzy%20Wuzzy%20Angel

MLA

“Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Fuzzy%20Wuzzy%20Angel. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Fuzzy%20Wuzzy%20Angel.

Source: Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.