o.pos.sum

opossum的音标和读音：
DJ音标发音： [əˈpɔsəm, ˈpɔsəm]
KK音标发音： [əˈpɑsəm, ˈpɑsəm]

opossum的词性：
n.（名词）

1. Any of various nocturnal, usually arboreal marsupials of the family Didelphidae, especially Didelphis marsupialis of the Western Hemisphere, having a thick coat of hair, a long snout, and a long prehensile tail. See Regional Note at possum
负鼠：一种夜间行动的杂食性树栖种袋鼠，尤指生长于西半球的负鼠 ，毛皮粗糙厚实，身体较长且粗，长有缠绕性的长尾 参见 possum

2. Any of several similar marsupials of Australia belonging to the family Phalangeridae.
袋貂：一种与负鼠相似的澳大利亚袋鼠，属于袋貂家族

opossum的词源：

3. Virginia Algonquian
弗吉尼亚的阿尔贡金语

opossum的注释：

4. The word opossum takes us back to the earliest days of the United States. The settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, was founded in 1607 by the London Company, chartered for the planting of colonies. Even though the first years were difficult, promotional literature was glowing. In one such piece, A True Declaration of the Estate of the Colonie in Virginia, published in 1610, we find this passage: “There are . . . Apossouns, in shape like to pigges.” This is the first recorded use of opossum, although in a spelling that differs from the one later settled on to reproduce the sound of the Virginia Algonquian word from which our word came. The word opossum and its shortened form possum, first recorded in 1613 in more promotional literature, remind us of a time when the New World was still very new, settlers were few, and the inhabitants for whom the New World was not new were plentiful.
词语opossum 把我们带回到了早期的美国社会。 伦敦公司，作为开拓殖民地的委托者，在1607年建立了弗吉尼亚詹姆斯敦的居民点。即使在最初的年代里很困难，激进文学也开始抬头。在其中有一篇于1610年出版的弗吉尼亚殖民地的真实宣言 ， 其中有一段“一种形似猪的动物”，就是最早的关于opossum 的记录， 虽然它的拼写和现在我们所使用的弗吉尼亚阿尔贡金语的拼写有所不同。词语opossum 和其缩写形式 possum 最初于1613年记录在更加激进的文学作品中， 让我们回想起当新大陆还很陌生而且只有很少的居住者时，已有许多对于新大陆并不陌生的土著居民