kouprey

[koo-prey]

noun

plural

koupreys ,

plural

kouprey .

1. a wild ox, Bos sauveli, weighing as much as 2,000 pounds (907 kilograms), with long legs, a humped back, and distinctive horns that arch forward on the male and spiral upward on the female: once known to inhabit the forests of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, the kouprey may have survived only in Cambodia and is now classified as possibly extinct.

kouprey

/ ˈkuːpreɪ /

noun

1. a large wild member of the cattle tribe, Box sauveli , of SE Asia, having a blackish-brown body and white legs: an endangered species

Word History and Origins

Origin of kouprey¹

First recorded in 1935–40; from French, from spoken Khmer ko:prey (written gō brai ), from Pali gō “cow” + Khmer brai “forest”

Word History and Origins

Origin of kouprey¹

C20: from French, from a Cambodian native name, from Pali gō cow + Khmer brai forest

Example Sentences

Two years later, Mr. Thayer mounted an elephant as part of an expedition to seek a possibly extinct Southeast Asian bovine called a kouprey.

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Also endangered are the Indo-Chinese gibbon and the rare kouprey, a remnant of a mid-Miocene ancestor of modern cattle.

Read more on Time Magazine Archive

Back in the U.S. last week, he had learned a lot about the kouprey, despite the hazards of scientific research in IndoChina's guerrilla-infested jungles.

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With an American photographer, a French guide and an escort of 70 Cambodian soldiers, Wharton established a study camp close to the kouprey country.

Read more on Time Magazine Archive