goanna
/ɡoʊ̯ˈæn.ə/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.91 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
3
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Any of various monitor lizards native to Australia.
Example Sentences
- "Four goannas ran up the tree, and the animals of the bush had preyed so very lavishly on the remains of mortality that the thorax and other parts of the neck, together with various portions of flesh from the body, were missing."
- "Hello! There's a goanna; that's a good sized one; but nothing to the one that I tumbled over when I was coming from the Big River."
- "I'll think of how the kids come alive walking around sandplains / reading tracks, looking for goannas, digging up witchetty grubs / collecting berries, branches of bush medicines."
Etymology
A respelling in Australia of guana, from iguana. Rhyming slang sense 2 rhyming on colloquial pronunciation pianner.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɡoʊ̯ˈæn.ə/
- British English: /ɡəʊ̯ˈæn.ə/