Bandicoot

//ˈbændiˌkut// noun, verb, slang

noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any of various small marsupials of Australia and New Guinea, some with distinctive long snouts, of the family Peramelidae.
  2. 2
    any of various agile ratlike terrestrial marsupials of Australia and adjacent islands; insectivorous and herbivorous wordnet
  3. 3
    A bandicoot rat; any of the genera Bandicota and Nesokia of rat-like rodents of southeast Asia.
Verb
  1. 1
    To steal growing root vegetables from a garden by digging the vegetable out but leaving the tops undisturbed. Australia, informal

Synonyms

All synonyms
animalantelopearmadillobatelephanthare

Example

More examples

"Experts have said cats have been a “major cause of decline” for many endangered marsupials, including the bilby, bandicoot, bettong and numbat."

Etymology

Ultimately from Telugu పందికొక్కు (pandikokku), from పంది (pandi, “pig, boar”) + కొక్కు (kokku, “bandicoot”); first used of Asian murids, now called bandicoot rats, thence applied to the Australian marsupials which bear some resemblance.

Related phrases

Fly River bandicootMenzies' spiny bandicootNew Guinean long-nosed bandicootNew Guinean mouse bandicootNew Guinean spiny bandicootPapuan bandicootShark Bay bandicootbandicoot grassbandicoot ratdesert bandicooteastern barred bandicooteastern striped bandicoot

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.