wisent

Borrowed from German Wisent. Doublet of bison.

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɪzənt/
• IPA^(key): /ˈviːzənt/
• Rhymes: -ɪzənt

wisent (plural wisents)

1. The European bison, Bison bonasus.

• European bison, zubr

• (a member of the Genus Bison): bison
• (a cloven-hoofed ruminant mammal of the subfamily Bovinae, cattle): bovine
• (a hoofed mammal chewing cud): ruminant

• (only surviving purebred subspecies, Bison bonasus bonasus): lowland wisent
• (subspecies only surviving as a hybrid, Bison bonasus caucasicus): Caucasian wisent
• (extinct subspecies, Bison bonasus hungarorum): Carpathian wisent

• Westin, twines

Borrowed from German Wisent in the 19th century. The native word, Middle Dutch wesende, from Old Dutch *wisent (in the placename Wisenthurst) had by then long been obsolete due to the medieval extinction of the species in Western Europe.

Breeding programmes and the establishment of several viable herds in the Netherlands has in recent decades rendered the word familiar to a broader audience; it was previously mostly restricted to a learned context.

• IPA^(key): /ˈʋisɛnt/, /ˈʋizɛnt/

wisent m (plural wisenten, diminutive wisentje n)

1. wisent