woylie
English
editEtymology
editNoun
editwoylie (plural woylies)
- (Australia) A species of bettong, Bettongia penicillata.
- 1996, Rees Barrett, Peter Dent, Place, Patter and Process, page 89:
- Woylies are sometimes referred to as brush-tailed rat kangaroos. This alternative name is an apt description of these small marsupials.
- 2007, The Bulletin, numbers 6559-6566, page 27:
- It's a whodunit involving the woylie, the marsupial poster-child for recovery programs involving endangered animals.
- 2009, Tim Winton, “Silent Country: Travels Through a Recovering Landscape”, in Robyn Davidson, editor, The Best Australian Essays 2009, page 16:
- ‘Like a woylie,’ said John Dell, ‘Closely related.’
Ah. Of course. Even I'd heard of the woylie. But like most of my countrymen, I couldn't have described one for love nor money.
The woylie belongs to the great treasury of marsupials that we revere and know nothing about. As I learnt that day, the boodie and the woylie are different species of bettong.
Synonyms
editReferences
edit- ^ One Big Garden. http://onebiggarden.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/aboriginal-words-in-english-language-l.html (12 Sep 2012)