Wallabies

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A family of small to medium-sized marsupials known for their incredible leaping skills and primarily herbivorous diet; typically found in forests and grasslands, they have a social nature while often being nocturnal in habits
2. A type of marsupial characterized by its moderate size and agile hopping, native to Australia and surrounding islands
3. A native Australian animal resembling a small kangaroo that moves with powerful leaps and feeds chiefly on plants

Etymology: The name came from the languages of the Sydney region in Australia. Early British colonists in New South Wales recorded a local word for these animals in spellings such as "wolabah" and "wilabi," and English speakers gradually settled on "wallaby." The animals were known by that Indigenous name before Europeans had a scientific system for them. The plural "wallabies" follows the usual English pattern for nouns ending in a consonant plus "y," changing the "y" to "ies." The word covers many smaller kangaroo-like species rather than a single genus, so it names a loose grouping of animals.