cuscus

Any arboreal marsupial of most genera of the family Phalangeridae, native to northern Australia, New Guinea, and Indonesia.

Noun

  1. Any arboreal marsupial of most genera of the family Phalangeridae, native to northern Australia, New Guinea, and Indonesia.
    • Without eggs, cocoa-nuts, or plantains, we had very short commons, and the boisterous weather being unpropitious for fishing, we had to live on what few eatable birds we could shoot, with an occasional cuscus, or...

Origin

From New Latin Cuscus, former genus name, ultimately (probably via French and Dutch koeskoes) from a local word for the marsupials in a language of the Moluccas.

Forms

cuscuses

Derived

Admiralty Island cuscus Australian spotted cuscus Banggai cuscus black-spotted cuscus blue-eyed cuscus blue-eyed spotted cuscus common spotted cuscus eastern common cuscus Gebe cuscus gray cuscus ground cuscus mountain cuscus northern common cuscus ornate cuscus Rothschild's cuscus silky cuscus southern common cuscus spotted cuscus Stein's cuscus Sulawesi bear cuscus Sulawesi dwarf cuscus Talaud bear cuscus Telefomin cuscus Waigeou cuscus

Noun India, uncountable

  1. vetiver

    Synonyms: khus