buffalo
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buffalo¹
- /ˈbʌf.əl.əʊ/ UK
- /ˈbʌf.ə.loʊ/ US
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Portuguese or Spanish búfalo (“buffalo”), from Late Latin būfalus, from Latin būbalus, from Ancient Greek βούβαλος (boúbalos, “antelope, wild ox”). Doublet of bubale and buffle.
noun buffaloes · buffalos · buffalo
-
An animal from the subtribe Bubalina, also known as true buffalos, such as the Cape buffalo, Syncerus caffer, or the water buffalo, Bubalus bubalis.
"It must be a very wild stretch of country, and full of big game. I have always wanted to kill a buffalo before I die."
Similar: buffle
- A related North American animal, the American bison, Bison bison.
- Ellipsis of buffalo robe
- The buffalo fish (Ictiobus spp.).
- A nickel.
- A looter during the Civil War.
- A large or stupid person.
- An obese person, usually a woman.
- A black male.
- Ellipsis of American buffalo (“gold bullion coin”).
verb buffaloes · buffaloing · buffaloed
- To hunt buffalo.
-
To outwit, confuse, deceive, or intimidate.
I'm just gonna let you have it. Probably in the midst of a kiss. Right when you think everything’s been healed up. Right in the moment when you're sure you've got me buffaloed. That's when you'll die.
Similar: cow, buffalo, bulldoze, bully, browbeat, dastardize, daunt, dishearten, do down, domineer, drive, hector
- To pistol-whip. Whereupon the twelve-inch barrel of the Buntline Special was laid alongside and just underneath the Rachal hatbrim most effectively. The buffaloed cattleman dropped to the walk, unconscious.
Buffalo²
- /ˈbʌfəloʊ/ US
Where it comes from
*(North America): Probably from buffalo (“American bison”) (Bison bison), since both cities are in regions that had wild herds at the time the names originated. Buffalo, New York was named after the Buffalo River, which an alternative etymology says is from French beau fleuve (“beautiful river”), but the more likely explanation is that it was named for the animal.
*(South Africa): From buffalo (Syncerus caffer), subsp. Cape buffalo commonly found in the region.
proper noun
- A major city, the county seat of Erie County, New York, USA; very near Niagara Falls. And in yet another deadly mass shooting, unfolding in Buffalo on Saturday, a heavily armed white man is accused of killing 10 people after targeting a supermarket on the city’s predominantly Black east side, writing in a lengthy screed posted online that the shoppers there came from a culture that s
- A small city in Scott County, Iowa.
- A city, the county seat of Wright County, Minnesota.
- A city, the county seat of Dallas County, Missouri.
- A town, the county seat of Harper County, Oklahoma.
- A census-designated place in Union County, South Carolina.
- A town, the county seat of Harding County, South Dakota.
- A small city in Leon County, Texas.
- A town in Putnam County, West Virginia.
- A town in Buffalo County, Wisconsin, not to be confused with Buffalo City in the same county.
- A town in Marquette County, Wisconsin.
- A city, the county seat of Johnson County, Wyoming.
- A number of townships, including in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania, listed under Buffalo Township.
- A rural municipality (the Rural Municipality of Buffalo No. 409) in western Saskatchewan, Canada.
- A number of places in South Africa.
- A town in South Gippsland Shire, south eastern Victoria, Australia.
- Ellipsis of Buffalo City
- Ellipsis of Buffalo County
- Ellipsis of Buffalo River
- Ellipsis of Buffalo Township
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: american buffalo, american bison, bison bison, bull, cow, vaccine, park, wild, bigmouth, suny, bison, bewilder, perplex, puzzle, confound, confuse
Translations
Every language
noun bovid of the Bubalina subtribe
| Español | búfalo |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 물소 mulso, 야우 yau |
| 日本語 | 野牛 yagyū |
| 中文 | 水牛 shuǐniú |
| हिन्दी | भैंस bhains |
| Kiswahili | mbogo, nyati |
| Português | búfalo |
| Français | buffle |
| Deutsch | Büffel, Wisent |
| Italiano | bufalo |
| Ελληνικά | βουβάλι vouváli |
| Română | bivol |
| Русский | бу́йвол bújvol |
| Tiếng Việt | trâu rừng, trâu |
| العربية | جَامُوس jāmūs, جَامُوسَة jāmūsa |
| עברית | תְּאוֹ teó, גָ׳מוּס jamús, בּוּפָלוֹ búfalo |
noun fish
| Français | ictiobus |
|---|
verb hunt buffalo
| Français | chasser le buffle |
|---|
verb outwit, confuse
| Français | être plus malin, confondre, intimider, battre |
|---|
verb pistol-whip
| Français | frapper avec la crosse d'un pistolet |
|---|
Talk about this word "buffalo." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/buffalo. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. buffalo. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/buffalo "buffalo." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/buffalo.Cite this
@misc{buffalo_2026,
title = {buffalo},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/buffalo},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
