possum

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

Corruption of opossum.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pŏs'əm, IPA: /ˈpɒsəm/, X-SAMPA: /"pQs@m/
• Rhymes: -ɒsəm

A Brushtail Possum in Australia

Noun

possum (plural possums)

1. (US) An opossum, a marsupial of the family Didelphidae of the Americas.
2. Any of marsupials in several families of the order Diprotodontia of Australia and neighboring islands.

Translations

opossum — see opossum

any of marsupials in several families of the order Diprotodontia of Australia and neighboring islands

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 負鼠 (cmn), 负鼠 (cmn) (fùshǔ), 波瑟姆 (cmn) (bōsèmǔ)

• French: possum (fr) m
• German: Possum (de) n

• Irish: pasam (ga) m
• Japanese: ポッサム (ja) (possamu)
• Russian: поссум (ru) (póssum) m

Derived terms

• play possum
• ring-tail possum

Related terms

• opossum

See also

• Diprotodontia
• Didelphidae

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Latin

Etymology

From potis (“able, capable”) + sum (“I am”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA: /ˈpos.sum/

• Audio (Classical)

  (file)

Verb

present active possum, present infinitive posse, perfect active potuī. (irregular; no passive)

1. I am able; I can.

   Tunc, modo edere non potuit.

   At that time, he just could not eat.

   Possum Latine loqui.

   I can speak Latin.

   Potesne mihi succurrere, quaeso?

   Can you help me please?

   Si probare possemus Ligarium in Āfricā omnino non fuisse.

   If we could prove that Ligarius was not at all in Africa.

Inflection

This verb is irregular, but resembles sum prefixed with pot-. Several contractions and simplifications occur, however: -ts- > -ss-, -tf- > -t-, -tess- > -ss-.

    Irregular

indicative		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
active	present	possum	potes	potest	possumus	potestis	possunt
	future	poterō	poteris	poterit	poterimus	poteritis	poterunt
	imperfect	poteram	poterās	poterat	poterāmus	poterātis	poterant
	perfect	potuī	potuistī	potuit	potuimus	potuistis	potuērunt
	future perfect	potuerō	potueris	potuerit	potuerimus	potueritis	potuerint
	pluperfect	potueram	potuerās	potuerat	potuerāmus	potuerātis	potuerant
subjunctive		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
active	present	possim	possīs	possit	possīmus	possītis	possint
	imperfect	possem	possēs	posset	possēmus	possētis	possent
	perfect	potuerim	potuerīs	potuerit	potuerīmus	potuerītis	potuerint
	pluperfect	potuissem	potuissēs	potuisset	potuissēmus	potuissētis	potuissent
imperatives		active			passive
		present (you)	future (you)	future (he/she)	present (you)	future (you)	future (he/she)
	singular	—	—	—	—	—	—
	plural	—	—	—	—	—	—
		present	perfect	future	present	perfect	future
infinitives		posse	potuisse	—	—	—	—
participles		potēns (potentis)	—	—	—	—	—

Derived terms

• multum posse
• possibilis
• potēns
• potentia

Related terms

absum adsum dēsum īnsum intersum obsum potentiālis

potis praesum prōsum subsum sum supersum

Descendants

Aromanian: pot, puteare Catalan: poder Dalmatian: potar English: in posse, power French: pouvoir Friulian: podê Galician: poder Italian: potere

Neapolitan: putè Occitan: pòder, podre Portuguese: poder Romanian: putea, putere Romansch: pudair, puder, pudeir Sardinian: podere, podi, podiri, pori, porrere, potere Spanish: poder