Aborigines, Aborigine, Aboriginal(generally a reference to indigenous people in general; being the first or earliest known of its kind present in a region: aboriginal forests, aboriginal rocks; of or relating to Aborigines or people of Australia)beauty!
Excellent! Great!
billy
A metal vessel for making tea.
bludger
A shirker or a freeloader.
boomerang
A flat, curved throwing weapon, some types of which return to the thrower.
budgerigar
A small, brightly colored parakeet.
bushranger
An outlaw or a robber.
capsicum
An everyday word for "bell pepper".
chook
A chicken.
cocky
An informal term for "small farmer".
Farmers were called cockies in the early days of European settlement because, like the birds of the same name, they made their homes on the edges of permanent waterholes. corrobore
A ceremonial and religious gathering with music and dance.
dingo
An Australian wild dog.
kangaroo
A marsupial animal with long hind legs for leaping.
koala
A bearlike, tree-living marsupial animal.
marsupial
A mammal; such as, a kangaroo, wombat, opossum, or koala, having no placenta and bearing immature young that are developed in a pouch on the mother's abdomen.
marsupium
A pouch on the abdomen of most marsupials that encloses the mammary glands and in which the animal's newly born offspring complete their development.
From an Ancient People Living near Rome to "Primitive Peoples" in Various Parts of the WorldThe Aborigines were an ancient people who lived near Rome before the Romans took over. The name appears to be from the Latin phrase ab origine meaning "from the beginning"; but since it was always used as a proper noun, it is probably a version of the tribe's real name, altered by the Romans to mean "the people here since the beginning". The plural noun aborigines is now used to refer to primitive peoples in various parts of the world. The adjective aboriginal means "being the earliest known (inhabitants) in an area." In North America both terms are occasionally applied to Indians, Innuit (Eskimos), or other pre-Columbian peoples. Where else but from Nantukcket did those aboriginal whalemen, the Redmen, first sally out in canoes to give chase to the Leviathan? Probably the most common usage of the word aborigines is in Australia, where the pre-European peoples are now always, and officially, called the Aborigines. Although the singular form Aborigines exists, Aboriginal or Aboriginal person is preferred for an individual. Australian Aboriginal WordsOther than names of some native plants and animals, very few Australian words have been taken into American English.The Australian Aborigines, who were the sole inhabitants of the island-continent for as much as 40,000 years, spoke about 230 different languages. Some of the words that have been borrowed from them into English are:
Australian EnglishAustralian English has never formed any regional dialects. It has a large quantity of unique vocabulary, some borrowed from the Aborigines, some surviving from words that have died out in Britain, but most were developed from the resources and history of the Australian people.
A Guide to the American Language; The Reader's Digest Association, Inc; Pleasantville, New York; 1983; page 4. More about AborigineWilliam Hone, in his Table Book (1827-28) wrote that aborigine "is explained in every dictionary . . . as a general name for the indigenous inhabitants of a country. In reality, it is the proper name of a peculiar people of Italy, who were not indigenous but were supposed to be a colony of Arcadians." Nevertheless, these people of Latium were thought by some Romans to have been residents of Italy from the beginning, ab originie, which gave us the Latin word aborigines for the original inhabitants of a country. See the other word histories here. Also see this Index or Menu for a variety of other topics. If there are any numbers below, use them to see other pages in this unit.
Showing page 1 out of 2 pages of 17 main-word entries or main-word-entry groups. Back to Index | Search Box | Main Index The Main-Get Words pageThe + sign which might appear at the end of a unit title means all of the words in that unit have definitions.
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