köken: From Early Modern German reen, ultimately from Old Norse hreinn (compare Swedish ren, Danish ren, Norwegian Nynorsk rein), from Proto-Germanic *hrainaz, most likely from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer- (“head, top; horn”) as in “horned animal”, thus distantly related to Hirsch, Hornisse, Rind as well as Hirn, Horn. The compound Rentier (corresponding to English reindeer) is more commonly used.
köken: Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *hrainaz Old Norse hreinn Swedish renbor. ▲ Old Norse hreinn Norwegian Nynorsk reinbor. French rennebor. Italian renna Borrowed from French renne.
caribou, reindeer (Arctic and Subarctic-dwelling deer)
eş: ren, renifer
köken: Etymology tree Proto-Algonquian *maka·l- Proto-Algonquian *-i(x)po(w)- Proto-Algonquian *maka·lipowa Mi'kmaq qalipubor. Canadian French cariboubor. English cariboubor. Polish karibu Borrowed from English caribou.
köken: Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *hrainaz Old Norse hreinn Swedish renbor. ▲ Old Norse hreinn Norwegian Nynorsk reinbor. French rennebor. Romanian ren Borrowed from French renne.
Borrowing from Ainu, either Ainu ト゚ナカィ (tunakay, recorded in Hokkaido), トナッカイ (tonakkai, recorded as Sakhalin dialect), or トゥナㇵカィ (tunahkay, listed in contemporary Ainu sources). The kanji are an example of jukujikun (熟(じゅく)字(じ)訓(くん)), an orthographic borrowing from Chinese 馴鹿.