Well attestedNamed from the place
Tasmanian devil
noun · first attested 19th century
The devil is named after an island named after a Dutch sea captain.
A stocky black carnivorous marsupial with a bone-crushing bite, now found only in Tasmania.
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 19th century
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Tasmania
- In English
Tasmanian devil
European settlers called it a devil for its night screeching and its snarling over carcasses, while the island honors Abel Tasman, who charted the coast in 1642. Devils lived across mainland Australia until roughly three thousand years ago, and a transmissible facial cancer has cut the wild population sharply since the 1990s.
Australia
All 11 entries 10 more words from Australia
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