What does babirussa mean?
The babirussa is a rare, swine-like mammal native to a handful of Indonesian islands, most famously Sulawesi, where it inhabits tropical rainforest and riverine habitats. Its claim to fame lies in the male's astonishing dentition: the upper canine teeth do not emerge beside the other teeth but instead grow upward, piercing right through the skin of the snout and curving back toward the eyes like polished antlers. This bizarre appearance led early European observers to coin a Malay-inspired name meaning 'pig-deer', since locals likened the tusks to a deer's horns. In modern usage, babirussa appears almost exclusively in zoological, conservation, and natural-history contexts rather than everyday conversation, and several related species within the genus Babyrousa are considered threatened. The word carries connotations of exoticism and biological oddity, making it a favourite of writers illustrating the strangeness of island evolution.
nounA babirussa is a large, hairless, swine-like mammal (Babyrousa babyrussa) native to certain Indonesian islands, famed for the male's extraordinary upward-curving canine tusks that pierce through the skin of its snout.
- A swine-like mammal (Babyrousa babyrussa) of Sulawesi and nearby Indonesian islands, in which the male's upper canine teeth grow upward through the flesh of the snout and resemble small antlers.
"The babirussa's remarkable tusks curve up and back toward its forehead, earning it a place in local folklore alongside the deer."
"Zoologists travelled to Sulawesi to study how the babirossa's unusual tusks affect feeding and mating displays."
"In the dense rainforests of Buru, the babirussa forages along riverbanks at dawn."
The regular English plural is 'babirussas'; the uninflected plural 'babirussa' also occurs by analogy with other animal names borrowed unchanged into English.
"The reserve shelters a dozen babirussas in its forested enclosure."
The male babirussa's upper canines grow straight up through the skin of its snout and curl back like antlers — so strange a sight that early naturalists thought it was a hybrid of a pig and a deer.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of babirussa
The word babirussa entered English in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century via Dutch and Portuguese traders, ultimately deriving from Malay 'babi' (pig) plus 'rusa' (deer), reflecting local comparisons between the animal's tusks and a deer's antlers. It shares its Malay roots with other borrowings into European languages such as orangutan ('person of the forest') and sarong, all transmitted during the colonial-era spice trade. A shortened variant spelling, 'babirusa', is common in modern zoological literature.
How babirussa is actually used
A formal, scientific register word, used chiefly in zoology and natural-history writing. The plural is usually 'babirussas', though the uninflected plural 'babirussa' also occurs, as with many animal names borrowed from other languages.
Easily confused with babirussa
Babirusa is simply an alternative spelling of the same animal name; both spellings refer to identical creatures, though 'babirussa' is the older form.