/ee"myooh/ , n.
a large, flightless, ratite bird, Emu ( Dromaius ) novaehollandiae, of Australia, resembling the ostrich but smaller and having a feathered head and neck and rudimentary wings.
[ 1605-15; earlier emeu (in earliest E source emia, eme ), ult.
ema, attested in 1541 as a name for the cassowary (further orig. obscure); the replacement of -a by -eu, etc., is unexplained ]