caribou

noun

car·​i·​bou ˈker-ə-ˌbü 

ˈka-rə-

plural caribou or caribous

: a large gregarious deer (Rangifer tarandus) of Holarctic taiga and tundra that usually has palmate antlers in both sexes

—used especially for one of the New World

called also reindeer

Illustration of caribou

Examples of caribou in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The most notable was when, over objections from the Alaska Department of Game and Fish, 60 million acres of federal lands were closed to nonresident and most nonresident caribou hunters in 2022. —Natalie Krebs, Outdoor Life, 31 Jan. 2025

Or show up in August when the caribou begin their migration through the park. —Graham Averill, Outside Online, 21 Jan. 2025

The bugs can become so annoying that the caribou focus on avoiding them — fleeing to icy, windy areas, for instance — at the expense of eating. —Barbara Moran, NPR, 10 Dec. 2024

The Biden administration offered 400,000 acres after shaving off one million acres from the original boundaries to avoid areas crucial to the polar bear and Porcupine caribou populations. —Lisa Friedman, New York Times, 8 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

earlier caribo, borrowed from Micmac qalipu (phonetically ɣalibu, 17th-18th-century *ɣaribu), agentive derivative of qalipi- "shovel snow," going back to proto-Algonquian *maka·lipi-; so called from its habit of scraping aside snow with its front feet in search of food

First Known Use

circa 1665, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

caribou

noun

car·​i·​bou ˈkar-ə-ˌbü 

plural caribou or caribous

: a large animal of the deer family that is found in cold northern regions

—used especially for one of the New World

called also reindeer

Etymology

from Canadian French caribou "caribou," from Micmac (Indigenous language of northeastern Canada) γalipu