any agile terrestrial marsupial of the family Peramelidae of Australia and New Guinea. They have a long pointed muzzle and a long tail and feed mainly on small invertebrates
2. bandicoot rat
Word origin
C18: from Telugu pandikokku, from pandi pig + kokku bandicoot
bandicoot in American English
(ˈbændɪˌkut)
noun
1.
a member of either genus (Bandicota and Nesokia, family Muridae) of large rats, found esp. in India and Sri Lanka, that destroy grain and root crops
2.
any of an order (Peramelina) of ratlike marsupials of Australia and nearby islands, which feed on insects and plants