# caribou

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈkæɹəbu/ · frequency rank #29,953

## Definitions
1. Any of several North American subspecies Rangifer tarandus of the reindeer.

## Etymology
Borrowed from Canadian French caribou, from Mi'kmaq qalipu (“caribou”) (compare qalipi (“to shovel snow”)), from Proto-Algonquian *maka·lipowa (“caribou; it shovels snow”).

## Easily confused with
- **carbon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/carbon-vs-caribou)

## Common misspellings (9)
`acribou`, `cairbou`, `carbiou`, `caribbou`, `caribuo`, `cariobu`, `carribou`, `ccaribou`, `craibou`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/caribou