Phrases & SayingsPeople and character
miserable as a bandicoot
Also: as miserable as a bandicoot
Extremely unhappy or wretched.
In a sentence
After the team left without him, he looked miserable as a bandicoot.
Where it came from
The comparison belongs to a colonial Australian cluster of bandicoot expressions that imagine the animal as solitary or wretched. It is recorded as early as 1828.
- First recorded
- 1828
- Initial era
- 1800–1849
- Where used
- Australia-wide