bandicoot

noun

1. any of several large East Indian rats of the genus Nesokia.
2. any of several insectivorous and herbivorous marsupials of the family Peramelidae, of Australia and New Guinea: some are endangered.

noun

1. any agile terrestrial marsupial of the family Peramelidae of Australia and New Guinea. They have a long pointed muzzle and a long tail and feed mainly on small invertebrates
2. bandicoot rat or mole rat any of three burrowing rats of the genera Bandicota and Nesokia, of S and SE Asia: family Muridae

n.

1789, from Telugu pandi-kokku, literally “pig-rat.” Properly a large and destructive Indian rat; applied from 1827 to a type of insectivorous Australian marsupial somewhat resembling it.