Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of several wild pigs of the genus Babyrousa of Indonesian forests, the male of which has two pairs of long, upward-curving tusks.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any of several mammals in the genus Babyrousa in the
pig familySuidae , in which the uppertusk grows upward.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun Indonesian wild pig with enormous curved canine teeth
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word babirusa.
Examples
-
I'm surprised so many people knew what the name was of that stinkin 'animal, I thought a babirusa was an Italian disco dancer from the 70's.
-
Todd, One of Three (I'm going with Son this week), Larry, and dmorris knew that the the babirusa was the animal in question last week.
-
In a curious parallel to this combination of anatomical features, the word babirusa combines babi, meaning pig, with rusa, meaning deer.
The deer-pig, the Raksasa, the only living anthracothere… welcome to the world of babirusas Darren Naish 2006
-
In a curious parallel to this combination of anatomical features, the word babirusa combines babi, meaning pig, with rusa, meaning deer.
Archive 2006-08-01 Darren Naish 2006
-
The birds, the mammals, the insects of Celebes were distinct from what he had seen in Sarawak, and an animal called the babirusa impressed him especially.
The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004
-
The birds, the mammals, the insects of Celebes were distinct from what he had seen in Sarawak, and an animal called the babirusa impressed him especially.
The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004
-
The babirusa is a social animal that moves in groups.
11 The Bearded Pig 1983
-
If you guessed that last week's animal was the babirusa, then you should turn off the Discovery Channel and back away from the TV, because that's something you really have no need to know.
-
These endemic species include the endangered mountain anoa (Bubalus quarlesi) and crested macaque (Macaca nigra) and the vulnerable babirusa (Babyrousa babyrussa) and Sulawesi montane long-nosed squirrel (Hyosciurus heinrichi).
-
Besides the aforementioned babirusa and the anoas, this includes the Sulawesi palm civet (Macrogalidia musschenbroekii, VU), which as the name suggests is found only on Sulawesi in lowland and montane forests to 2,600 meters, and around 25 species of rodents.
trivet commented on the word babirusa
A nocturnal, forest-dwelling wild pig (Babyrousa babyrussa) of the East Indies, having long, upward-curving tusks in the male.
(Malay babirusa : babi, hog + rusa, deer.)
June 1, 2007
sionnach commented on the word babirusa
My little guide to mammals assures me that the babirusa does not have facial warts; it is, nevertheless, a singularly ugly beast.
October 17, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word babirusa
Do you think it has a baculum? I'm wondering because I just learned that most mammals have them, except humans. So all of a sudden I'm publicly asking strangers about things I didn't even know existed until a couple days ago (thanks a lot, skipvia!).
October 18, 2007
skipvia commented on the word babirusa
No problem, c_b. I didn't know what a baubellum was until you cited it, so I guess we're even.
Although I'm probably going to avoid going around asking strangers whether or not they have one...
October 18, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word babirusa
Hell, I still don't know exactly what a baubellum is... but then I'm not sure I want to.
October 18, 2007