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

Alongside rare wildlife sightings of caribou and black bears, travelers will witness the northern lights shimmering across the night sky. —Laura Begley Bloom, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2024

Shards of caribou bones and antlers lie on the tundra as ghostly business cards of a bygone migration, greened with mold, and minutely chiseled and mined for calcium by tiny vole teeth. —Jon Waterman, Outside Online, 22 Oct. 2024

But caribou populations have long been declining and finding ripe berries in drier forests has become harder. —Manuela Andreoni, New York Times, 13 Aug. 2024

Heat waves and other shifting weather patterns are causing chaos in ecosystems that Indigenous hunters and fishermen have long relied on, disrupting everything from the migration of caribou and reindeer to the abundance of wild-berryharvests. —Anna Canny, NPR, 13 Sep. 2024

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