Etymology

Higgs bison

Today it means: The ancestor of the European bison (Bison bonasus), a species originating from the hybridization of the aurochs (Bos primigenius) and the steppe bison (Bison priscus). Full definition →

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The story

Blend of Higgs boson + bison. From being elusive, not being found after a long search, akin to how the Higgs boson proved time-consuming to find. Higgs was chosen due to the similarity between boson and bison, and its characteristic mysteriousness, due to not being found.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.