What does marsupial mean?
Word: Marsupial
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Marsupial means a mammal, such as a kangaroo or koala, whose babies are born very small and finish growing in a pouch on the mother's body.
Word origin: Comes from a Latin word for a pouch or purse, which goes back to a Greek word for a little bag.
How do you spell marsupial?
Syllables: mar - su - pi - al
Tricky part: The ending is -ial. Students often write -eal (marsupeal) or turn the last vowels round (marsupail).
Watch out for: marsupeal, marsupail, marsupiel
Memory tip: The Latin pouch word ends in -ium, and its i stays in when the word becomes marsupial.
Marsupial in a sentence
Example 1: A newborn kangaroo, like most baby marsupials, is about the size of a jelly bean and crawls straight into the pouch.
Example 2: Our zoology project on marsupials took us from wombats to wallabies.
Example 3: Koalas are marsupials, not bears, even though people call them koala bears.
Fun Fact
Most marsupials live in Australia and New Guinea, but the Americas have them too: opossums are marsupials, and the Virginia opossum lives as far north as Canada.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell Spies
Choose the incorrectly spelt word:
a) herbivore
b) vertebrate
c) nocturnal
d) marsuppial
Show answer
d) marsuppial. The Latin pouch word, marsupium, never doubled its p.
Jumble Tumble
What is the meaning of the word that can be formed from the given letters?
palrusiam
a) a reptile whose body is covered by a hard shell
b) a creature that is active mainly at night
c) an animal whose tiny newborn finishes developing in a fold of skin on its mother's belly
d) an animal that feeds only on plants
Show answer
c) an animal whose tiny newborn finishes developing in a fold of skin on its mother's belly. Pull out mar and su and the nine letters make marsupial, the pouch animal.
Sound Check
In which word is 'su' pronounced differently?
a) supermarket
b) superb
c) marsupial
d) sugar
Show answer
d) sugar. Sugar begins with a sh sound; the other three say soo.
Word Puzzle
Match the words with their meanings:
1. marsupial 2. amphibian 3. rodent a. an animal that lives both in water and on land b. a small mammal with sharp front teeth for gnawing c. an animal that carries its young in a pocket of skin
a) 1-c, 2-b, 3-a
b) 1-c, 2-a, 3-b
c) 1-b, 2-c, 3-a
d) 1-a, 2-b, 3-c
Show answer
b) 1-c, 2-a, 3-b. The marsupial has the pouch, the amphibian lives in water and on land, and the rodent gnaws.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these animals is NOT a marsupial?
a) a panda
b) an opossum
c) a wallaby
d) a wombat
Show answer
a) a panda
2. A guide in Australia points to a kangaroo carrying a joey. What is a joey?
a) a kangaroo's burrow
b) a baby kangaroo
c) a male kangaroo
d) a kangaroo's tail
Show answer
b) a baby kangaroo
