tamaraw

English

A tamaraw bull

Alternative forms

• tamarau, tamarao

Etymology

From Tagalog.

Noun

tamaraw (plural tamaraws or tamaraw)

1. A small, dark brown, hoofed buffalo, Bubalus mindorensis, found only in Mindoro in the Philippines.
   • 1983, National Research Council (U.S.) Advisory Committee on Technology Innovation, Managing Tropical Animal Resources: Little-Known Asian Animals with a Promising Economic Future‎^[1], page 61:

     The habitat requirements of the tamaraw appear to be fairly flexible, and present habitat use reflects human pressures rather than the animal's preferences. In the past, tamaraw were found in virtually all parts of Mindoro, from sea level to mountain tops.

   • 1994, Mary Emanoil, Encyclopedia of Endangered Species, Volume 1, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, page 364,

     In the early 1900s, there were an estimated 10,000 tamaraws on Mindoro; because of excessive hunting and loss of habitat, the population had decreased to less than 150-200 animals by 1971.

   • 2010, Patricia Sheridan, Locke: A Guide for the Perplexed‎^[2], page 57:

     If that person explains that a tamaraw is a bovine animal, brown in color, found in the Philippines, I can take tamaraw to designate something like my idea of a brown cow. As a matter of fact, though, tamaraw are actually more like small water buffalo.

Synonyms

• (Bubalus mindorensis): Mindoro dwarf buffalo

Translations

Bubalus mindorensis

• Bikol Central: tamaraw
• Cebuano: tamaraw
• Finnish: tamarao
• French: tamarau (fr)
• Galician: búfalo anano de Mindoro (gl) m
• German: Tamarau
• Irish: tamará m
• Italian: tamarro (it)
• Russian: тамара́у m (tamaráu), тамаро́у m (tamaróu), филиппи́нский буйво́л m (filippínskij bujvól), миндора́нский бу́йвол m (mindoránskij bújvol)
• Spanish: tamarao m
• Tagalog: tamaraw

Tagalog

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *tamadaw (“kind of wild ruminant”). Compare Aklanon tamaraw, Cebuano tamaraw, Iban temadau, and Malay tembadau.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /tamaˈɾaw/ [t̪ɐ.mɐˈɾaʊ̯], /ˌtamaˈɾaw/ [ˌt̪aː.mɐˈɾaʊ̯]
• Rhymes: -aw
• Syllabification: ta‧ma‧raw

Noun

tamaráw or támaráw (Baybayin spelling ᜆᜋᜇᜏ᜔)

1. tamaraw (Bubalus mindorensis)

Further reading

• “tamaraw”, in KWF Diksiyonaryo ng Wikang Filipino, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, 2024
• “tamaraw”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018
• Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen; et al. (2023) “*tamadaw”, in the CLDF dataset from The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (2010–), →DOI