Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “Australasian” come from?

Australasian comes from English Australasia plus the Italian suffix -ana, from Spanish -ana, from Latin -anus, ultimately from Proto-Italic -os.

Australasian (English): Relating to Australia and its surrounding regions...

Definitions

  1. Relating to Australia and its surrounding regions...

Ancestry of “Australasian”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishAustralasia—
2FrenchAustralasie—
3Latinaustralissouthern; Australian; the south pole
4LatinausterThe south wind; south
5Proto-Italic*austeros—
Every word from Proto-Italic *austeros →