marsupial

/mɑːˈsuː.pi.əl/

//mɑːˈsuː.pi.əl// noun

"marsupial" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“marsupial” is uncommon English (frequency #58,833 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#58,833
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any member of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia, including those where the female has a pouch in which it rears its young through early infancy, such as kangaroos, koalas, wombats and opossums, ...

Corpus desk

Index EN-marsupial · marsupial · English

marsupial · rank #58,833 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #58,833
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH Margaery

Nearest frequency peer: Margaery (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “marsupial”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “marsupial” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for marsupial
PropertyValue
Headwordmarsupial
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/mɑːˈsuː.pi.əl/
Letters9
Frequency rank#58,833
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “marsupial” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).marsupialfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “Margaery” (#58,832), “Masahiro” (#58,834), “Maren” (#58,831). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “marsupial” is #58,833. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

marsupial is uncommon English at frequency #58,833 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /mɑːˈsuː.pi.əl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Any member of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia, including those where the female has a pouch in which it rears its young through early infancy, such as kangaroos, koalas, wombats and opossums, ...".

Zero misspellings are on record for marsupial in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin marsupium, marsuppium (“pouch, purse”), from Ancient Greek μαρσύπιον (marsúpion) or μαρσύππιον (marsúppion), variants of μαρσίππιον (marsíppion), diminutive of μάρσιππος (mársippos, “bag, pouch”); with English -al. The correct English form is marsupial, spelled M-A-R-S-U-P-I-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Any member of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia, including those where the female has a pouch in which it rears its young through early infancy, such as kangaroos, koalas, wombats and opossums, as well as the pouchless shrew opossums.

Etymology

From Latin marsupium, marsuppium (“pouch, purse”), from Ancient Greek μαρσύπιον (marsúpion) or μαρσύππιον (marsúppion), variants of μαρσίππιον (marsíppion), diminutive of μάρσιππος (mársippos, “bag, pouch”); with English -al.

Synonyms

marsupialmarsupianmarsupiate

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "marsupial"?
"marsupial" is spelled M-A-R-S-U-P-I-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is /mɑːˈsuː.pi.əl/.
What does "marsupial" mean?
As a noun, "marsupial" means: Any member of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia, including those where the female has a pouch in which it rears its young through early infancy, such as kangaroos, koalas, wombats and opossums, ...
How do you pronounce "marsupial"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "marsupial" is /mɑːˈsuː.pi.əl/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "marsupial"?
From Latin marsupium, marsuppium (“pouch, purse”), from Ancient Greek μαρσύπιον (marsúpion) or μαρσύππιον (marsúppion), variants of μαρσίππιον (marsíppion), diminutive of μάρσιππος (mársippos, “bag, pouch”); with English -al. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "marsupial", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list