Kangaroo word

A kangaroo word is a word that contains all the letters of one of its synonyms, called a joey word, arranged so that these letters appear in the same order in both words. For example, the word action is a kangaroo word containing the joey word act; the words in[flammable] and [malign]ant also each include their own synonyms. In the kangaroo word, the letters of the joey word may also be separated, as in [ma]scu[l]in[e], which contains the letters of male scattered throughout. Some compilers in fact require that the letters of the joey word not be consecutive within the kangaroo word,[1] or may stipulate that the kangaroo and joey words be etymologically unrelated, so that in both cases action, inflammable and malignant would not qualify, .[1]

Kangaroo words were originally popularized as a word game by Ben O'Dell in an article for The American Magazine, volume 151, during the 1950s, later reprinted in Reader's Digest.[2][3]

The phrase kangaroo word is derived from the fact that kangaroos carry their young, known as joeys, in a body pouch. Likewise, kangaroo words carry their joey words within themselves. A twin kangaroo is a kangaroo word that contains two joey words (for example: container features both tin and can). In contrast, an anti-kangaroo word is a word that contains its antonym (for example: covert carries overt, animosity carries amity).[4] A grand kangaroo is a kangaroo word which has two joeys, one of which is in the pouch of the other. For instance, alone is a grand kangaroo since it contains lone, which carries its own synonym one.