Meaning

noun small furry Australian arboreal marsupials having long usually prehensile tails

noun nocturnal arboreal marsupial having a naked prehensile tail found from southern North America to northern South America

originEtymology tree Proto-Algonquian *wa·p- Proto-Algonquian *aθemwa Proto-Algonquian *wa·p-aʔθemwa Powhatan aposoumbor. English opossum From Powhatan aposoum (“white animal”), from Proto-Algonquian *wa·p-aʔθemwa (“white dog”); compare Ojibwe waabasim (“white dog”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0