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kangaroo

UK/ˌkæŋ.ɡəˈɹuː/US/ˌkæŋ.ɡəˈɹu/
nounB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #5,537 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: kangaroos

A kangaroo is an Australian animal that jumps far and carries its baby in a pocket. A grey kangaroo, kangaroos at dusk, the kangaroo's pouch.

Hopping is more efficient than running at speed, because tendons in the legs store and return energy like springs. The newborn is the size of a jellybean and climbs to the pouch itself. The name comes from the Guugu Yimithirr word gangurru.

Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0

Definitions of kangaroo

  1. 1nounkangarooA hopping Australian marsupial.B2

    “The kangaroo carried her baby in her pouch as she hopped away.”

kangaroo is an animal.

Where it comes from

From the Guugu Yimithirr word gangurru, the name of a grey kangaroo. The story that it means I don't know is false.

  1. kky

    gangurru

  2. English, today

    kangaroo

Borrowed from kky gangurru. kky gangurru (“eastern grey kangaroo”). Despite a popular misconception, the Guugu Yimidhirr term does not mean "I don't know".

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Animals

Practise this word

kangaroo in the wild

  • The Australian government estimates that 42.8 million kangaroos lived within the commercial harvest areas of Australia in 2019, down from 53.2 million in 2013.

    Kangaroo

  • The largest species in the family are called "kangaroos" and the smallest are generally called "wallabies".

    Kangaroo

  • Most species of tree-kangaroo are considered threatened due to hunting and habitat destruction.

    Tree-kangaroo

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.