Australian Slang For Kangaroo (8 Examples!)

It’s probably not much of a surprise to anyone that Australians are world leaders in their lexicon of slang terms for kangaroo.

They have a number of different slang terms describing different kangaroos, in terms of their sex, their maturity, their temperament, and a few other things.

Today, we’re going to look at the main slang terms that Australians use for kangaroos.

Let’s get started.

In This Article

Roo

To start off with what is undoubtedly the most common and universal slang term for a kangaroo in Australia, first we have “roo”.

This one can be used to describe just about any kangaroo.

Whether they are a full grown male, a baby female, an adolescent—any kangaroo is a roo.

You’ll hear this one used and certainly understood across all of Australia, whether you’re in the heart of Canberra or the remotest region of the desert outback.

All slang does this, but Australian slang in particular is very fond of simply shortening words down in order to get to a slang word.

This is all that happened to arrive at the word “roo”. Kangaroo itself is said to be an Aboriginal word for the animal that Captain Cook himself first heard during his travels in the country.

The shortened “roo” is first attested in 1904 in written form.

We can surmise it was likely in use long before that, though, so it’s likely a very old slang term.

This is the bread-and-butter Australian slang term for kangaroo, and it has been for a long time.

Kanga

Another slang term is just simply Kanga.

When kangaroos are made into sausages, the phrase “kanga banger” is sometimes used.

Skippy

Next we have another one that likely makes a lot of sense right away to any English speaker.

Australians also refer to kangaroos as “skippy”.

Generally, this is something you would use to talk about one kangaroo.

It might even be a way of addressing them. “Watch out skippy I’m coming past,” for example.

Again though, this can be used to describe any kangaroo.

You might think that this one also simply arose naturally since kangaroos do skip.

In fact, it’s quite a lot more recent than “roo”, and seems to come from the 1960s television series Skippy the Bush Kangaroo.

Our first written example of the use of this slang term comes from 1982, so it probably caught on quite quickly earlier on.

Interestingly, though, “skippy” was also an old British slang term to refer to Australians.

Joey

Though this one is broadly understood across the world to mean a baby kangaroo, it still is ultimately not really standard English.

It in fact ultimately derives from an Aboriginal language, and at first just meant any small animal.

Settlers either mistook the meaning of the word or allowed it to take on a more specific meaning over time, and thus today “joey” is the main slang term for a baby kangaroo.

Boomers

Next, we have another slang term based on how kangaroos locomote.

However, “boomers” is an adult male kangaroo, and not one used for just any old kangaroo.

This is another one reserved for the large and more boisterous kangaroos out there.

That said, it doesn’t necessarily indicate aggression like some of the others on this list.

“Boomers” simply describes the sound that a big kangaroo makes when it bounces around.

If you’ve never seen a kangaroo up close, the males are much bigger and stronger than you expect.

Terrifyingly so in fact, in some cases.

So, they do make a real “booming” when they move.

As for the origin of this phrase, it’s quite difficult to say.

We have very little written examples of this word that date back very far.

It may simply have been borrowed from the American slang of the 20s and 30s, where “boomer” simply meant something large.

But we don’t know for sure.

Kangarilla

Next we have one that isn’t all that commonly used today, but is nonetheless understood as a slang term for kangaroo still.

Some say that kangarilla describes a uniquely beautiful kangaroo, but there’s not a great deal of evidence for that.

Kangarilla itself is actually a rural town just outside Adelaide, and the word is an Aboriginal one describing a place where things are nurtured.

It is very loosely used as slang for kangaroos.

Flyer

“Flyer” is next, and this is another one that describes a certain kind of kangaroo.

Any female kangaroo is a flyer, and this is simply a reference to the speed at which they move.

Kangaroos can move at incredible speeds, especially when being chased by predators. Red kangaroos can reach up to 70 km/hr.

Females tend to be much faster than males because they are not so bulky.

We don’t know when this phrase originated, though it was likely sometime in the 20^th Century.

Mobs

Finally, it’s interesting to note that a group of kangaroos is known, colloquially, as a “mob” in Australia.

Kangaroos do often form large groups in the wild, and they can be very boisterous, so this is where the term originated.

Kangaroos are a lot more dangerous than you might think.

Again, we, unfortunately, have no written record to tell us when this phrase came into use.

Our best guess is that it was first used in the 19^th Century when the zoological classification was becoming a more important aspect of natural science.

So, whether it’s a male or a female, a child or an adult, there will be a slang term for it.

The most commonly used are the more general terms like “roo” or “skippy”, since they pretty handily describe virtually any kangaroo.

But out in the outback, where escaping from kangaroos becomes more difficult, it might be helpful to distinguish between a huge, burly male and a little joey.

More in Australian Slang

Founder - @PollyWebster

Polly Webster is the founder of Foreign Lingo and a seasoned traveler with a decade of exploration under her belt.

Over the past 10 years, she has journeyed to numerous countries around the globe, immersing herself in diverse cultures, traditions, and languages.

Drawing from her rich experiences, Polly now writes insightful articles about travel, languages, traditions, and cultures, sharing her unique perspectives and invaluable tips with her readers.

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