Wapiti
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The American elk (Cervus canadensis). It was formerly considered to be in the same species as the European red deer, which it somewhat exceeds in size. Canada, US
"Of deer there are in North America perhaps eight species : the black-tailed deer of the Pacific coast ; the mule-deer, and the white-tailed deer, of the Upper Missouri region and westward; the common deer of the United States east of the Missouri ; the wapiti of the northern and northwestern portions of the United States; one or two species of reindeer ; and the moose of the northern portion of the continent. […] Next to the moose, the wapiti or American elk (Cervus Canadensis) is the largest deer in North America."
- 2 common deer of temperate Europe and Asia wordnet
- 3 large North American deer with large much-branched antlers in the male wordnet
Example
More examples"Of deer there are in North America perhaps eight species : the black-tailed deer of the Pacific coast ; the mule-deer, and the white-tailed deer, of the Upper Missouri region and westward; the common deer of the United States east of the Missouri ; the wapiti of the northern and northwestern portions of the United States; one or two species of reindeer ; and the moose of the northern portion of the continent. […] Next to the moose, the wapiti or American elk (Cervus Canadensis) is the largest deer in North America."
Etymology
From Shawnee waapiti (“elk; white rump”).
Related phrases
More for "wapiti"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.