tapir
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of tapir
1560–70; ≪ Tupi tapira
Explanation
If it's a hoofed mammal with a short, trunk-like nose, it's probably a tapir. Unless you spend a lot of time in the jungle, you're most likely to see a tapir at the zoo. It might take you a minute to identify a tapir, even if you frequent the South American and Southeast Asian jungles where most tapirs live. These horse and zebra relatives are rare, considered endangered or vulnerable because of human activity. The most distinctive thing about tapirs is probably the flexible nose, which is much shorter than an elephant's trunk but equally useful for grabbing leaves to eat.
Vocabulary lists containing tapir
Southeast Asia - Introductory
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Southeast Asia - Middle School
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Southeast Asia - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
You won’t see deer, tapir, peccaries, monkeys or chicken-like curassows anywhere within trekking distance of habitation; they’ve all been eaten.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026
The study offers insights into the impact of domestic dogs on wildlife, particularly on species of conservation concern such as the mountain tapir.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 17, 2024
A rare Malayan tapir, a species which is related to both the horse and the rhinoceros, has been born at Chester Zoo.
From BBC ● Dec. 9, 2022
That Malayan tapir must have taken a long plane ride to get on that trail, Mark.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 14, 2018
What if I had ended up with a creature that looked silly or ugly, a tapir or an ostrich or a flock of turkeys?
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
This region shelters not only migratory songbirds but also jaguars, tapirs, and scarlet macaws.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 22, 2025
Their phones were now full of oncillas, tapirs, great horned owls and the gleaming crowns of Mauritius palms at sunset.
From New York Times ● Jan. 16, 2024
The fossils date from early in the Eocene epoch, when Earth was home to ancient relatives of many modern mammals, including tapirs, hippopotamuses and humans.
From Scientific American ● Jan. 25, 2023
The wildlife in Corcovado National Park includes all four Costa Rican monkey species, sloths, jaguars, anteaters, tapirs, sea turtles and over 220 species of butterflies.
From Seattle Times ● May 16, 2022
I also loved stories of wolves, bears, and wolverines in North America and Canada, jaguars anacondas and sloths in South America, orangutans, Indian elephants, and tapirs in Asia, and so on.
From "My Life with the Chimpanzees" by Jane Goodall
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
