woylie

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English

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A woylie

Etymology

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From Nyunga walyu.[1]

Noun

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woylie (plural woylies)

  1. (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

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References

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