Plural of possum; small to medium-sized marsupial mammals native to Australia and nearby regions, known for playing dead when threatened.
From Powhatan (Native American language) aposoum. The word entered English through colonists in North America in the 17th century. The Australian marsupials were given the same name by European settlers because they resembled the American opossum.
When North American colonists named the animal 'possum,' they were actually borrowing a word from Powhatan people—and then Europeans moving to Australia saw different animals and just called them 'possums' too, creating a situation where the same English word refers to two completely different creatures on different continents!
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