Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A large hoglike quadruped, of the genus Babyrousa, found in the East Indies, sometimes domesticated; the Indian hog. Its upper canine teeth or tusks are large and recurved.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French babiroussa, from Malay babi rusa ("babiroussa, deer hog").

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Examples

  • The babiroussa is a species of wild hog, peculiar to the islands of Eastern Asia, and remarkable, in the male animal, for the extraordinary growth and direction of the canine teeth.

    Scientific American Supplement, No. 415, December 15, 1883 Various

  • The skull of a babiroussa, with the teeth fully developed, is in the possession of Mr. Bartlett, the able superintendent of the

    Scientific American Supplement, No. 415, December 15, 1883 Various

  • At this period domestic animals were not numerous in the Moluccas, but among the wild animals the most curious were the _babiroussa_, an enormous wild boar with long tusks bent backwards; the opossum, a kind of didelphis a little larger than our squirrel; the phalanger,

    Celebrated Travels and Travellers Part I. The Exploration of the World Jules Verne 1866

  • A good English dictionary includes, for example, such exotic words as babirussa (or babiroussa), a wild hog of the East Indies also known as staghog; peccary (or pecari), a nocturnal gregarious wild swine of the genus Tayyassu which is native to the western hemisphere; wart-hog, an African wild hog of the genus Phacochoerus; boshvark

    VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol V No 2 1978

Comments

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  • I love entering new words and seeing that WeirdNet already has them. :) (Especially when they have archaic spellings.)

    August 26, 2008

  • Properly babirusa.

    May 16, 2009

  • Babiroussa is its French spelling. (Isn't there a list for that?)

    May 16, 2009