reindeer
n. countablen. a large deer with wide antlers that lives in cold, northern areas. You might know them as the animals that pull Santa's sleigh in stories.
n. a large species of deer, Rangifer tarandus, native to arctic and subarctic regions. Characterised by large, branched antlers present in both sexes.
The reindeer lives in the cold snowy mountains.
Indigenous groups in northern Scandinavia have herded reindeer for centuries, relying on them for meat, fur, and transport.
Unlike most other deer species, both male and female reindeer grow antlers, which they shed and regrow in an annual cycle tied to their breeding and social hierarchy.
From Middle English reyndere, reynder, rayne-dere, from Old Norse hreindýri (“reindeer”), from hreinn (“reindeer”) + dýr (“animal”). Compare Dutch rendier (“reindeer”), German Rentier (“reindeer”), Swedish rendjur (“reindeer”), Danish rensdyr (“reindeer”) and French renne (“reindeer”). Related also to displaced Old English hrān (“reindeer”). Unrelated to rein.
The plural form can be either 'reindeer' or 'reindeers', though the zero-plural 'reindeer' is more common in biological and collective contexts.