carabao

English

A carabao

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish carabao, from Waray-Waray karabaw, from Malay kerbau, from Proto-Malayic *kAr(ə)baw, ultimately from Proto-Mon-Khmer *krpiʔ ~ *krpiiw ~ *krpuʔ ~ *(kr)puh (“buffalo”). Compare Khmer ក្របី (krɑbəy), Halang kơpùa, Indonesian kerbau, Javanese ꦏꦼꦧꦺꦴ (kebo), Thai กระบือ (grà-bʉʉ).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kæɹəˈbeɪəʊ/

Noun

carabao (plural carabaos)

1. A domesticated subspecies of water buffalo, Bubalus bubalis carabanesis.
   • 1999, Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon:

     The weaker carabaos are slaughtered for meat, the stronger ones put to work on Golgotha, and the drivers are assimilated into the workforce.

   • 2001, Greg Nickles, Philippines: The Culture, page 30:

     Filipinos tell several stories about the carabao. The Tagalog, who live mainly on Luzon, tell the following story about how the carabao, one of the largest animals in the country, is tricked by one of the smallest animals, a hummingbird.

   • 2005, Cindy Fazzi, How to Draw the Philippines's Sights and Symbols, page 24:

     The Malay people who arrived in the Philippines between 1500 B.C. and 500 B.C. introduced the carabao as a work animal. Today the carabao, also known as the water buffalo, is a very important animal in the Philippines. Carabaos are popular farm animals.

Derived terms

• carabeef

Translations

Bubalus bubalis carabanesis

• Berik: damulag, karabaw
• Bikol Central: damulag (bcl), karabaw (bcl)
• Cebuano: kabaw
• Chamorro: cårabao
• Dupaningan Agta: makadaklan, galambud, galampes
• Hiligaynon: karabaw
• Ibaloi: nuwang
• Ilocano: nuang
• Indonesian: kerbau (id)
• Ivatan: pagad
• Kankanaey: nuwang
• Kapampangan: damulag
• Kayapa Kallahan: nuwang
• Limos Kalinga: luwang
• Malay: kerbau, benuang
• Portuguese: carabau
• Spanish: carabao m
• Tagalog: kalabaw (tl), nuwang, anwang, anuwang
• Waray-Waray: karabaw

See also

• carabao English
• carabao on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Bubalus bubalis carabanesis on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Waray-Waray karabaw, from Malay kerbau, from Proto-Malayic *kAr(ə)baw, ultimately from Austroasiatic; compare Proto-Mon-Khmer *krpiʔ ~ *krpiiw ~ *krpuʔ ~ *(kr)puh (“buffalo”), whence Khmer ក្របី (krɑbəy, “water buffalo”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaɾaˈbao/ [ka.ɾaˈβ̞a.o]
• Rhymes: -ao
• Syllabification: ca‧ra‧ba‧o

Noun

carabao m (plural carabaos, feminine caraballa, feminine plural caraballas)

1. water buffalo

Descendants

• → Tagalog: kalabaw

Further reading

• “carabao”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10