Meanings
plural possums
- A marsupial of the family Didelphidae of the Americas; an opossum.
- A marsupial of several families of the order Diprotodontia, found in Australia and neighboring islands.
present singular third person possums · participle present possuming · participle past possumed · past possumed
- intransitiveTo play possum; to feign sleep, illness, or death.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounnocturnal arboreal marsupial having a naked prehensile tail found from southern North America to northern South America
nounsmall furry Australian arboreal marsupials having long usually prehensile tails
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
- Englishpossum
Derived from opossum by apheresis.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 袋貂
- 袋貂 (dàidiāo)marsupial of the order Diprotodontia
Finnish harvaetuhampainen
- harvaetuhampainenmarsupial of the order Diprotodontia
French possum
- possummarsupial of the order Diprotodontia
German Possum
- Possummarsupial of the order Diprotodontia
Hungarian rókakuzu
- rókakuzumarsupial of the order Diprotodontia
Irish pasam
- pasammarsupial of the order Diprotodontia
Japanese ポッサム
- ポッサム (possamu)marsupial of the order Diprotodontia
Polish dwuprzodozębowiec
- dwuprzodozębowiecmarsupial of the order Diprotodontia
Russian по́ссум
- по́ссум (póssum)marsupial of the order Diprotodontia
Spanish pósum
- pósummarsupial of the order Diprotodontia
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with possum
All rhymes →Cite this entry
possum. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/possum
“possum.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/possum. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “possum,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/possum.
Source: possum on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.