tapir
Americannoun
noun
Other Word 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.
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
It has since expanded to become a wildlife park featuring wallabies, capybara, tapir and lemur and many other species.
From BBC • Dec. 24, 2021
Other BRI routes pose a risk to such iconic animals as the large-antlered muntjac, the Malayan tapir, the white-handed gibbon, the Sumatra serow, and the critically endangered Edwards’s pheasant.
From Science Magazine • Nov. 3, 2021
It was also becoming apparent that the possibility of supplementing their food rations with game, such as the tapir, looked bleak.
From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple
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.
