tinamou

American  

[tin-uh-moo] / ˈtɪn əˌmu /

noun

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

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tinamou British  

/ ˈtɪnəˌmuː /

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of tinamou

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

Example Sentences

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

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

Reid Rumelt, a computational ornithologist, just returned to his D.C. home from the Andes Mountains, where he recorded 3,600 hours of the endangered undulated tinamou.

From Washington Post • Jan. 10, 2020

They quantified its smoothness down to the nanometer scale and measured the shininess of the mirrorlike surface, finding that tinamou eggs are up to 14 times as glossy as the average chicken egg.

From New York Times • Dec. 22, 2014

At the close of day the great tinamou gives a loud, monotonous, plaintive whistle, and then immediately springs into the tree.

From Wanderings in South America by Waterton, Charles