"cuscus" meaning in English

See cuscus in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈkʌs.kəs/, /ˈkuːs.kuːs/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cuscus.wav [Southern-England] Forms: cuscuses [plural]
Rhymes: -ʌskəs Etymology: From New Latin Cuscus, former genus name, ultimately (probably via French and Dutch koeskoes) from a local word for the marsupials in a language of the Moluccas. Etymology templates: {{wp}}, {{taxlink|Spilocuscus papuensis|species}} Spilocuscus papuensis, {{bor|en|la-new|Cuscus}} New Latin Cuscus, {{der|en|fr|-}} French, {{der|en|nl|koeskoes}} Dutch koeskoes Head templates: {{en-noun}} cuscus (plural cuscuses)
  1. Any arboreal marsupial of most genera of the family Phalangeridae, native to northern Australia, New Guinea, and Indonesia. Translations (marsupial): wown (Abau), kuskus (Finnish), Kuskus [masculine] (German), Cuscus [dated, masculine] (German), cusco [masculine] (Italian), tseelkǫǫhí (Navajo), kuskus [masculine] (Polish), cusco (Portuguese), куску́с (kuskús) [masculine] (Russian)
    Sense id: en-cuscus-en-noun-ooows~kf Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Abau translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Italian translations, Terms with Navajo translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Portuguese translations, Terms with Russian translations, Marsupials Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 81 19 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 96 4 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 96 4 Disambiguation of Marsupials: 96 4 Derived forms: Admiralty Island cuscus, Australian spotted cuscus, Banggai cuscus, black-spotted cuscus, blue-eyed cuscus, blue-eyed spotted cuscus, common spotted cuscus, eastern common cuscus, Gebe cuscus, gray cuscus, ground cuscus, mountain cuscus, northern common cuscus, ornate cuscus, Rothschild's cuscus, silky cuscus, southern common cuscus, spotted cuscus, Stein's cuscus, Sulawesi bear cuscus, Sulawesi dwarf cuscus, Talaud bear cuscus, Telefomin cuscus, Waigeou cuscus, Waigeou spotted cuscus, Woodlark cuscus
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 1

Noun

Head templates: {{en-noun|-}} cuscus (uncountable)
  1. (India) vetiver Tags: India, uncountable Synonyms: khus
    Sense id: en-cuscus-en-noun-VPr8VAzi Categories (other): Indian English
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

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  "etymology_number": 1,
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "wp"
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    {
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        "1": "Spilocuscus papuensis",
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      "args": {
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      "name": "bor"
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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fr",
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      "expansion": "French",
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    {
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        "2": "nl",
        "3": "koeskoes"
      },
      "expansion": "Dutch koeskoes",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From New Latin Cuscus, former genus name, ultimately (probably via French and Dutch koeskoes) from a local word for the marsupials in a language of the Moluccas.",
  "forms": [
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      "form": "cuscuses",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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  "senses": [
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        {
          "_dis": "81 19",
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          "orig": "en:Marsupials",
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        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "Admiralty Island cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "Australian spotted cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "Banggai cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "black-spotted cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "blue-eyed cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "blue-eyed spotted cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "common spotted cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "eastern common cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "Gebe cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "gray cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "ground cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "mountain cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "northern common cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "ornate cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "Rothschild's cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "silky cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "southern common cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "spotted cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "Stein's cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "Sulawesi bear cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "Sulawesi dwarf cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "Talaud bear cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "Telefomin cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "Waigeou cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "Waigeou spotted cuscus"
        },
        {
          "word": "Woodlark cuscus"
        }
      ],
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          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              202,
              208
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 357:",
          "text": "Without eggs, cocoa-nuts, or plantains, we had very short commons, and the boisterous weather being unpropitious for fishing, we had to live on what few eatable birds we could shoot, with an occasional cuscus, or eastern opossum, the only quadruped, except pigs, inhabiting the island.",
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        }
      ],
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      ],
      "id": "en-cuscus-en-noun-ooows~kf",
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        [
          "arboreal",
          "arboreal"
        ],
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          "marsupial",
          "marsupial"
        ],
        [
          "genera",
          "genus"
        ],
        [
          "Phalangeridae",
          "Phalangeridae#Translingual"
        ],
        [
          "Australia",
          "Australia"
        ],
        [
          "New Guinea",
          "New Guinea"
        ],
        [
          "Indonesia",
          "Indonesia"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "aau",
          "lang": "Abau",
          "lang_code": "aau",
          "sense": "marsupial",
          "word": "wown"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "marsupial",
          "word": "kuskus"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "marsupial",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Kuskus"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "marsupial",
          "tags": [
            "dated",
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Cuscus"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "lang_code": "it",
          "sense": "marsupial",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "cusco"
        },
        {
          "code": "nv",
          "lang": "Navajo",
          "lang_code": "nv",
          "sense": "marsupial",
          "word": "tseelkǫǫhí"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "marsupial",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "kuskus"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "lang_code": "pt",
          "sense": "marsupial",
          "word": "cusco"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "kuskús",
          "sense": "marsupial",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "куску́с"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
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      "ipa": "/ˈkʌs.kəs/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkuːs.kuːs/"
    },
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      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ʌskəs"
    }
  ],
  "word": "cuscus"
}

{
  "etymology_number": 2,
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
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          "kind": "other",
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        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
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      ],
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    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "Terms with Italian translations",
    "Terms with Navajo translations",
    "Terms with Polish translations",
    "Terms with Portuguese translations",
    "Terms with Russian translations",
    "en:Marsupials"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "Admiralty Island cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "Australian spotted cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "Banggai cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "black-spotted cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "blue-eyed cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "blue-eyed spotted cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "common spotted cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "eastern common cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "Gebe cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "gray cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "ground cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "mountain cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "northern common cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "ornate cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "Rothschild's cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "silky cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "southern common cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "spotted cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "Stein's cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "Sulawesi bear cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "Sulawesi dwarf cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "Talaud bear cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "Telefomin cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "Waigeou cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "Waigeou spotted cuscus"
    },
    {
      "word": "Woodlark cuscus"
    }
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      "expansion": "",
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      "args": {
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  ],
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        "plural"
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    }
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
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        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              202,
              208
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 357:",
          "text": "Without eggs, cocoa-nuts, or plantains, we had very short commons, and the boisterous weather being unpropitious for fishing, we had to live on what few eatable birds we could shoot, with an occasional cuscus, or eastern opossum, the only quadruped, except pigs, inhabiting the island.",
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        }
      ],
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      ],
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          "marsupial"
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          "Phalangeridae",
          "Phalangeridae#Translingual"
        ],
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          "Australia"
        ],
        [
          "New Guinea",
          "New Guinea"
        ],
        [
          "Indonesia",
          "Indonesia"
        ]
      ]
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  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "ipa": "/ˈkʌs.kəs/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkuːs.kuːs/"
    },
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      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cuscus.wav",
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      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ]
    },
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      "rhymes": "-ʌskəs"
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  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "aau",
      "lang": "Abau",
      "lang_code": "aau",
      "sense": "marsupial",
      "word": "wown"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "marsupial",
      "word": "kuskus"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "marsupial",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Kuskus"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "marsupial",
      "tags": [
        "dated",
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Cuscus"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "lang_code": "it",
      "sense": "marsupial",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "cusco"
    },
    {
      "code": "nv",
      "lang": "Navajo",
      "lang_code": "nv",
      "sense": "marsupial",
      "word": "tseelkǫǫhí"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "marsupial",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "kuskus"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "lang_code": "pt",
      "sense": "marsupial",
      "word": "cusco"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "kuskús",
      "sense": "marsupial",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "куску́с"
    }
  ],
  "word": "cuscus"
}

{
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    "English uncountable nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
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  ],
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "head_templates": [
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      "expansion": "cuscus (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Indian English"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "vetiver"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "vetiver",
          "vetiver"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(India) vetiver"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "khus"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "India",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "cuscus"
}

Download raw JSONL data for cuscus meaning in English (5.4kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-05-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-05-01 using wiktextract (f3d3fdb and ae80fde). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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