Etymology

reindeer

rein·deer
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Today it means: Any Arctic and subarctic-dwelling deer of the species Rangifer tarandus, with a number of subspecies. Full definition →

Middle English reyndere ← Old Norse hreindýri
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The story

  1. Old Norse · derived fromhreindýri“reindeer”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromreyndere
  3. English todayreindeer

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.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.