Polyprotodontia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A taxonomic grouping of marsupial mammals distinguished by having numerous teeth and multiple pairs of incisors in the lower jaw
2. The name of a marsupial order whose members, such as opossums and shrews-like species, have many small teeth in each jaw
3. A zoological division of pouched mammals characterized by a dentition with many teeth, unlike the fewer-toothed diprotodont marsupials

Etymology: Polyprotodontia is a scientific coinage, not a word that has been passed down through ordinary speech. It was built from Greek parts: "poly" (many), "proto" (first) and "odous" (tooth), with the suffix "-ia". The name refers to the arrangement of teeth in the group of marsupials that includes opossums, quolls, and numbats, which have several pairs of incisors in the lower jaw, unlike the single pair found in kangaroos and their relatives. The term was therefore coined by zoologists to describe a tooth pattern, and its meaning is literal: "many first teeth." The contrasting group, Diprotodontia, was named by the same sort of anatomical reasoning, with "di" (two) in place of "poly," referring to the two prominent lower incisors. Modern taxonomists sometimes treat the two as the major divisions of the marsupials, so the pair of names works as a matched set of descriptions of one feature.