Caribou
/ˈkær.ɪ.buː/noun
A large deer of the Arctic and subarctic regions, known as the reindeer in Eurasia.
Did you know?English *caribou* comes through French from Mi'kmaq *qalipu* or a related form, often glossed as “snow shoveler,” a vivid image for the animal's digging through frozen ground.
Etymological Timeline
Modern English
English
caribou
“A large northern deer, especially the North American form of reindeer.”
17th-18th Century
French
caribou
“A North American deer name borrowed from an Indigenous language of the Atlantic Northeast.”
17th Century
Mi'kmaq
qalipu
“Commonly given as “snow shoveler,” referring to the animal's habit of pawing through snow for food.”
Proto-Algonquian (reconstructed)
Algonquian
*kalihpōwa?
“A proposed ancestral form related to the Mi'kmaq word, though the exact reconstruction is uncertain.”
Prehistory
Indigenous North American
—
“The animal was known by local peoples long before English adopted the French form.”