A buffalo is a large, heavy animal with horns, such as the African buffalo or the water buffalo in Asia. In North America, the word is often used for the bison, even though it is not a true buffalo.
From Portuguese and Spanish “búfalo,” from Latin “bubalus,” meaning “wild ox,” from Greek “boubalos.” The word was later applied by European settlers to American bison by mistake.
The famous American “buffalo” is actually a bison wearing the wrong name. English kept the error, which is why a sentence like “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo” is grammatically correct—and mind-bending.
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