Meanings
plural opossums
- Any American marsupial of the family Didelphidae in the order Didelphimorphia.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAny American marsupial of the family Didelphidae in the order Didelphimorphia.
More synonyms by meaning
nounsmall furry Australian arboreal marsupials having long usually prehensile tails
nounnocturnal arboreal marsupial having a naked prehensile tail found from southern North America to northern South America
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Algonquian*wa·p-
- Proto-Algonquian*aθemwa
- Proto-Algonquian*wa·p-aʔθemwa
- Powhatanaposoum
- Englishopossum
From Powhatan aposoum (“white animal”), from Proto-Algonquian *wa·p-aʔθemwa (“white dog”); compare Ojibwe waabasim (“white dog”).
More words from Powhatan, Proto-Algonquian
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic أُوبُسُوم
- أُوبُسُوم (ʔubusum)marsupial of the Didelphidae
Basque zarigueia
- zarigueiamarsupial of the Didelphidae
Bulgarian опо́сум
- опо́сум (opósum)marsupial of the Didelphidae
Catalan sariga, opòssum
- sarigamarsupial of the Didelphidae
- opòssummarsupial of the Didelphidae
Chinese Mandarin 負鼠 /负鼠
- 負鼠 /负鼠 (fùshǔ)marsupial of the Didelphidae
Czech vačice
- vačicemarsupial of the Didelphidae
Danish opossum, pungrotte
- opossummarsupial of the Didelphidae
- pungrottemarsupial of the Didelphidae
Dutch opossum, Amerikaanse buidelrat
- opossummarsupial of the Didelphidae
- Amerikaanse buidelratmarsupial of the Didelphidae
Esperanto didelfo
- didelfomarsupial of the Didelphidae
Finnish opossumi
- opossumimarsupial of the Didelphidae
French sarigue, opossum
- sariguemarsupial of the Didelphidae
- opossummarsupial of the Didelphidae
- rat de boismarsupial of the Didelphidae
German Beutelratte, Opossum
- Beutelrattemarsupial of the Didelphidae
- Opossummarsupial of the Didelphidae
Greek οπόσουμ
- οπόσουμ (opósoum)marsupial of the Didelphidae
Hebrew אופוסום
- אופוסום (opossum)marsupial of the Didelphidae
Hungarian oposszum
- oposszummarsupial of the Didelphidae
Icelandic pokarotta
- pokarottamarsupial of the Didelphidae
Irish apasam
- apasammarsupial of the Didelphidae
Italian opossum, sariga
- opossummarsupial of the Didelphidae
- sarigamarsupial of the Didelphidae
Japanese オポッサム, 袋鼠
- オポッサム (opossamu)marsupial of the Didelphidae
- 袋鼠 (fukuronezumi)marsupial of the Didelphidae
- フクロネズミmarsupial of the Didelphidae
Korean 주머니쥐
- 주머니쥐 (jumeonijwi)marsupial of the Didelphidae
Lithuanian oposumai
- oposumaimarsupial of the Didelphidae
Norwegian pungrotte
- pungrottemarsupial of the Didelphidae
Persian صاریغ
- صاریغ (sâriġ)marsupial of the Didelphidae
Polish opos, dydelf
- oposmarsupial of the Didelphidae
- dydelfmarsupial of the Didelphidae
Portuguese gambá, cuíca
- gambámarsupial of the Didelphidae
- cuícamarsupial of the Didelphidae
- opossummarsupial of the Didelphidae
- sariguêmarsupial of the Didelphidae
- mucuramarsupial of the Didelphidae
- saruêmarsupial of the Didelphidae
Romanian oposum, sarigă
- oposummarsupial of the Didelphidae
- sarigămarsupial of the Didelphidae
Russian опо́ссум
- опо́ссум (opóssum)marsupial of the Didelphidae
Spanish zarigüeya, carachupa
- zarigüeyamarsupial of the Didelphidae
- carachupamarsupial of the Didelphidae
- chuchamarsupial of the Didelphidae
- comadrejamarsupial of the Didelphidae
- faromarsupial of the Didelphidae
- mucamarsupial of the Didelphidae
- rabipeladomarsupial of the Didelphidae
- raposamarsupial of the Didelphidae
- tacuacínmarsupial of the Didelphidae
- tacuazínmarsupial of the Didelphidae
- tlacuachemarsupial of the Didelphidae
- zorramarsupial of the Didelphidae
Swahili kifaurongo
- kifaurongomarsupial of the Didelphidae
Swedish pungråtta
- pungråttamarsupial of the Didelphidae
Tagalog sarigweya
- sarigweyamarsupial of the Didelphidae
Turkish keseli sıçan
- keseli sıçanmarsupial of the Didelphidae
Ukrainian опо́сум
- опо́сум (opósum)marsupial of the Didelphidae
Vietnamese ô-pốt-sâm, thú ô-pốt
- ô-pốt-sâmmarsupial of the Didelphidae
- thú ô-pốtmarsupial of the Didelphidae
Welsh oposwm
- oposwmmarsupial of the Didelphidae
Yiddish אָפּאָסום
- אָפּאָסום (oposum)marsupial of the Didelphidae
Cite this entry
opossum. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/opossum
“opossum.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/opossum. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “opossum,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/opossum.
Source: opossum on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.