Meanings
murri1
Murri2
plural Murris · plural Murries
- New South WalesAustralian AboriginalAn indigenous Australian, especially one from Queensland or northern New South Wales.
‘The Murris don't work to whitefeller schedules. That's not the way it is.’
2002, Alex Miller, Journey to the Stone Country, Allen & Unwin, published 2003, page 154 more examples
[O]n the veranda a fight started round the dart-board and two of the Murris threw punches until the barman thumped them apart.
1979, Thea Astley, Hunting the Wild Pineapple, Nelson, page 24The local council wanted the Murries to live in town. (The council didn't care too much what the Murries themselves thought of this idea.)
1992, Bill Dodd, Broken Dreams, University of Queensland Press, unnumbered page1998, Margaret Henderson, Subdivisions of Suburbia, Andrew McCann (editor), Writing the Everyday, Australian Literary Studies, Volume 18, No. 4, University of Queensland Press, page 78, She can confidently walk through the mall, and make the politico-spatial connections between what she sees (Murries sitting and begging, crowds of Chinese-Australians, police lurking), what she has experienced in Eagleby (dispossessed whites, Murries unaware of their heritage), and what she has learnt from Roger, Kerry, and the 'Anyday Story'.
The immediate background to the event was several massacres, the killings of Murries at Teewah beach, and the "clearing" of the Dawson Valley where other Murries had been fighting a sort of guerilla^([sic]) war against the white invasion of the grasslands.
2006, Martin Cohen, No Holiday: 80 Places You Don't Want to Visit, The Disinformation Company Ltd., page 106Synonyms: Koori
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn indigenous Australian, especially one from Queensland or northern New South Wales.
Origin
murri · noun
- Latinmuria
- Classical Syriacܡܘܼܪܝܵܐ (mūryā)
- Arabicمُرِّيّ (murriyy)
- Englishmurri
Borrowed from Arabic مُرِّيّ (murriyy), borrowed from Classical Syriac ܡܘܼܪܝܵܐ (mūryā, “brine”), borrowed from Latin muria (“brine, salty pickling solution”).
More words from Arabic
Full word history & related roots →Murri · noun
- Gamilaraaymari“Aboriginal man”
- EnglishMurri
From Gamilaraay mari (“Aboriginal man”).
More words from Gamilaraay
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
murri. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/murri
“murri.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/murri. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “murri,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/murri.
Source: murri on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.