VocabauraVOCABAURA

buffalo

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A related North American animal, the American bison, Bison bison.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

buhfuhloh

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈbʌfəloʊ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. An animal from the subtribe Bubalina, also known as true buffalos, such as the Cape buffalo, Syncerus caffer, or the water buffalo, Bubalus bubalis.

  2. A related North American animal, the American bison, Bison bison.

  3. Meat from an American bison

  4. Any of several Old World animals resembling oxen including, e.g., water buffalo; Cape buffalo

  5. A major city, the county seat of Erie County, New York, USA; very near Niagara Falls.

  6. A number of other places in the United States, including

verb

  1. USslangtransitive

    Intimidate or overawe

  2. usslangtransitive

    To outwit, confuse, deceive, or intimidate.

  3. transitive

    To hunt buffalo.

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: An animal from the subtribe Bubalina, also known as true buffalos, such as the Cape buffalo, Syncerus caffer, or the water buffalo, Bubalus bubalis.

Used this way, buffalo is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use buffalo

  • “We saw a large herd of buffalo grazing peacefully in the national park.”noun

Share your sentence

Write your own example sentence using “buffalo”. We review each one before it appears.

Use This Word

See how this word sounds in a real sentence.

Ask Vocabaura

Understand the word your way.

What Does It Mean Here?

Words can change meaning depending on context.

Use it yourself

Knowing “buffalo” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.

Know the meaning? Practice using it in a real situation, free, no credits.

Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.