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cas·so·war·y (kăsə-wĕr′ē)
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n. pl. cas·so·war·ies
Any of several large flightless birds of the genus Casuarius of Australia, New Guinea, and adjacent areas, having a large bony projection on the top of the head and brightly colored wattles.
[Malay kasuari, from eastern Indonesian dialectal Malay, from a source in one of the Malayo-Polynesian languages of the Moluccas and New Guinea; akin to Nuaulu (Malayo-Polynesian language of Seram) asuwan and Haruku (Malayo-Polynesian language of Haruku island, east of Ambon) and Onin (Malayo-Polynesian language of western New Guinea, on which a local pidgin is based) kasawari, all perhaps from an unknown Papuan substrate source.]
(click for a larger image)
cassowary
northern cassowary
Casuarius unappendiculatus
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

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