noun
Bison
BEYE-suhn
noun
1
A large, shaggy, wild ox-like mammal native to North America and parts of Europe.
"A herd of bison grazed across the open prairie."
How to Use Bison
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishThe large shaggy wild cattle-like animal often (loosely) called a buffalo in America.
Common mistake
In North America "bison" and "buffalo" are often used interchangeably, but true buffalo (water buffalo, Cape buffalo) are a different species found in Asia and Africa.
Easily confused with
Word Forms
bison plural, bisons plural, bisontes plural
Study it as flashcards or scroll it in Flow — saved to your collection.
Test yourself on “Bison”
A quick quiz — meaning, synonyms & usage
→
Fill the Gap
Can you complete this real example?
A herd of _____ grazed across the open prairie.
Etymology
From Latin bison ("wild ox"), likely itself borrowed from a Germanic word for the aurochs — making "bison" a distant relative of the word "wisent" (the European bison).