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reindeer - 4 dictionary results
rein⋅deer
[reyn-deer] 
–noun, plural -deer, (occasionally
) -deers.
) -deers. | any of several large deer of the genus Rangifer, of northern and arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America, both male and female of which have antlers. |
Origin:
1350–1400; ME raynder(e) < ON hreindȳri, equiv. to hreinn reindeer + dȳr animal (c. deer )
1350–1400; ME raynder(e) < ON hreindȳri, equiv. to hreinn reindeer + dȳr animal (c. deer )
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To reindeer
| rein·deer (rān'dîr') n. pl. reindeer or rein·deers A large deer (Rangifer tarandus) of the Arctic and northern regions of Eurasia and North America, having branched antlers in both sexes. [Middle English reindere : Old Norse hreinn, reindeer; see ker-1 in Indo-European roots + Middle English der, animal; see deer.] Word History: Although Saint Nick uses reins on his reindeer and reindeer are used to pull sleds in Lapland and northern Siberia, the word reindeer has nothing to do with reins. The element -deer is indeed our word deer, but the rein- part is borrowed from another language, specifically from the Scandinavian languages spoken by the chiefly Danish and Norwegian invaders and settlers of England from the 9th to the 11th century. Even though the Old Icelandic language in which much of Old Norse literature is written is not the same variety of Old Norse spoken by these settlers of England, it is close enough to give us an idea of the words that were borrowed into English. Thus we can cite the Old Icelandic word hreinn, which means "reindeer," as the source of the first part of the English word. The word reindeer is first recorded in Middle English in a work composed before 1400. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Reindeer
Rein"deer`\ (r?n"d?r), n. [Icel. hreinn reindeer + E. deer. Icel. hreinn is of Lapp or Finnish origin; cf. Lappish reino pasturage.] [Formerly written also raindeer, and ranedeer.] (Zool.) Any ruminant of the genus Rangifer, of the Deer family, found in the colder parts of both the Eastern and Western hemispheres, and having long irregularly branched antlers, with the brow tines palmate. Note: The common European species (R. tarandus) is domesticated in Lapland. The woodland reindeer or caribou (R. caribou) is found in Canada and Maine (see Caribou.) The Barren Ground reindeer or caribou (R. Gr[oe]nlandicus), of smaller size, is found on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, in both hemispheries. Reindeer moss (Bot.), a gray branching lichen (Cladonia rangiferina) which forms extensive patches on the ground in arctic and even in north temperature regions. It is the principal food of the Lapland reindeer in winter. Reindeer period (Geol.), a name sometimes given to a part of the Paleolithic era when the reindeer was common over Central Europe.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : reindeer
Spanish:
reno,
German:
das Ren,
Japanese:
となかい
reindeer
c.1400, from O.N. hreindyri "reindeer," from dyr "animal" (see deer) + hreinn, the usual name for the animal, from P.Gmc. *khrainaz (cf. O.E. hran "reindeer," Ger. Renn). Probably cognate with Gk. krios "ram," but folk-etymology associates it with rennen "to run."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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