tinamou

American

[tin-uh-moo] / ˈtɪn əˌmu /

noun

any of several birds of the family Tinamidae, of South and Central America, related to the ratite birds but superficially resembling the gallinaceous birds.

tinamou British

/ ˈtɪnəˌmuː /

noun

any bird of the order Tinamiformes of Central and South America, having small wings, a heavy body, and an inconspicuous plumage

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of tinamou

First recorded in 1775–85; from French, from Galibi (a Carib language spoken in French Guiana) tinamu

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.

Colossal Biosciences would again edit the genes of a close living relative, such as the emu or tinamou, and call it a moa.

From Slate • Aug. 8, 2025

Animals such as the tinamou, a bird the local Indigenous people consider sacred, even scarcer.

From Washington Post • Feb. 18, 2023

Panguana’s name comes from the local word for the undulated tinamou, a species of ground bird common to the Amazon basin.

From New York Times • Jun. 18, 2021

His recordings of the unique, mournful song of the tinamou will form the baseline count for a long-running study that couldn’t have been done by mere observation.

From Washington Post • Jan. 10, 2020

The small tinamou has nothing that can be called a tail.

From Wanderings in South America by Waterton, Charles

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023