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platypus
[plat-i-puhs, -poos]
noun
plural
platypuses, platypia small, aquatic, egg-laying monotreme, Ornithorhynchus anatinus, of Australia and Tasmania, having webbed feet, a tail like that of a beaver, a sensitive bill resembling that of a duck, and, in adult males, venom-injecting spurs on the ankles of the hind limbs, used primarily for fighting with other males during the breeding season.
platypus
/ ˈæɪə /
noun
Word History and Origins
Word History and Origins
Origin of platypus1
Example Sentences
Professor Flannery said the research reveals that 100 million years ago, Australia was home to a diversity of monotremes, of which the platypus and the echidna are the only surviving descendants.
Bjorkstrand may have led Columbus in goals for two consecutive years before coming to Seattle, but this was like being the world’s prettiest platypus.
I am going to watch the sun turn into a platypus.
The platypus, a unique egg-laying mammal native to Australia, faces many threats in the wild: climate change, predators, pollution, floods and shrinking freshwater habitats.
Williams once mused, "Do you think God gets stoned? I think so. Look at the platypus."
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When To Use
The plural form of platypus can be either platypuses or platypi, pronounced [ plat-i-pahy ], but platypuses is more widely used. The plurals of several other singular words ending in -us are formed in the same way as platypuses, such as virus/viruses, sinus/sinuses, and walrus/walruses. Irregular plurals that are formed like platypi, such as cactus/cacti and fungus/fungi, derive directly from their original pluralization in Latin. However, the standard English plural -es ending is often also acceptable for these terms, as in cactuses.
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