# philander

> English word · Noun · IPA /fɪˈlændə/ · frequency rank #72,644

## Definitions
1. A lover.
2. A South American opossum, bare-tailed woolly opossum, of species Caluromys philander (syn. Didelphis philander).
3. A greater bilby, an Australian marsupial of species Macrotis lagotis (syn. Perameles lagotis).

## Etymology
From the given name Philander, used as a name for flirtatious characters in several 18th century stories, from Ancient Greek Φίλανδρος (Phílandros), name of the mythological son of the nymph Acacallis and the god Apollo. Semantically disconnected from the adjective φίλανδρος (phílandros, “loving one’s husband; excessively attracted to males, slutty, boy crazy”).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/philander