A large Australian kangaroo, especially the red kangaroo, hunted for its meat and hide.
From Australian Aboriginal languages, possibly from Dharug 'gaaru' or similar words. The term entered English in the 18th century through encounters with Indigenous Australians and became standardized in colonial literature.
Early European settlers heard Aboriginal peoples call the animal by names that sounded like 'garoo,' and rather than learn the original languages, they created this simplified version—a perfect example of how colonizers reshaped the world through their own linguistic lens.
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