Austr(o)-2 Also austral(o)-.
Australia; Australia and …; southern.
[Latin australis, southern.]
Australia was originally Terra Australis, the southern land. The prefix occurs occasionally in words indicating Australia plus another country, as in Austro-Malayan and Austro-Asiatic. Australasia is the region consisting of Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and the neighbouring islands of the Pacific; an Austronesian language is one of a family spoken in an area extending from Madagascar in the west to the Pacific islands in the east.
Words in australo- refer generally to something in the southern hemisphere. An australite in Geology is a glassy fragment, a tektite, often found in Australia. An australopithecine (Greek pithēkos, ape) is a member of an extinct species of primate found in southern Africa.
Visit Michael Quinion’s World Wide Words site for 2000+ articles on English!
Copyright © Michael Quinion 2008–. All rights reserved. Page last updated 23 September 2008.
Your comments are very welcome.