Word.ws English Dictionary

gunyah

gunyah noun: a traditional Aboriginal dwelling made of bark and sticks.

Noun

gunyah (plural gunyahs)

  1. (Australia) A traditional Aboriginal dwelling made of bark and sticks.
    • The following day we reached the main creek ; and knowing where there was a fine water-hole and native gunyahs, we went there, intending to save what was left of our flour and dried meat, for the purpose of making another attempt to reach Mount Hopeless.1861, Robert O'Hara Burke, William John Wills, The Burke and Wills Exploring Expedition: An Account of the Crossing the Continent of Australia from Coopers Creek to Carpentaria, page 4
    • Across the country a wisp of smoke showed, then gunyahs, and in a moment more we were right in the bush camp.1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 83

Proper noun capitalized: Gunyah

Gunyah

  1. A locality in South Gippsland Shire, south eastern Victoria, Australia.

Examples of gunyah in a sentence

  • Still standing as he was, some seconds later he chuckled again to see her pass like a flash from the jungle to the gunyah.1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, unnumbered page:
  • We lived in humpies, or gunyahs, that the men built from tree branches, bark and leaves.1994, Rita Huggins, Jackie Huggins, Auntie Rita, page 8:

Forms of gunyah

pluralgunyahs
alternative formgunya

Origin of gunyah

Borrowed from Dharug gunya (“shelter”), first recorded 1803.

Questions about gunyah

What does gunyah mean?
Gunyah means a traditional Aboriginal dwelling made of bark and sticks.
How do you use gunyah in a sentence?
Still standing as he was, some seconds later he chuckled again to see her pass like a flash from the jungle to the gunyah.
What part of speech is gunyah?
Gunyah can be a noun or a proper noun.
What is the plural of gunyah?
The plural of gunyah is gunyahs.

Words near gunyah in the dictionary

  1. gunwork
  2. gunworks
  3. gunwright
  4. gunwrights
  5. gunya
  6. gunyah
  7. gunyahs
  8. gunyang
  9. gunyas
  10. Gunz
  11. gunzel

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gunyah (page history and authors); Gunyah (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “gunyah.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gunyah. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.