Word.ws English Dictionary

Higgs bison

Higgs bison noun: 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).

Noun

Higgs bison (plural Higgs bison)

  1. (informal) 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).
    • Scientists believe the Higgs bison were offspring of steppe bison and aurochs, an extinct breed of cattle.2016 October 19, Robby Berman, “Scientists Identify the Elusive Higgs Bison”, in Big Think, archived from the original on 05 Oct 2022
    • But now, cave art and further DNA testing have finally unraveled the origins of Higgs Bison, which turns out to be a previously undescribed hybrid animal. The research appears in the journal Nature Communications.2016 October 19, Jason Daley, “Cave Paintings Help Unravel the Mystery of the ‘Higgs Bison’”, in Smithsonian Magazine

Forms of Higgs bison

pluralHiggs bison
alternative formHiggs Bison
alternative formHiggs-Bison

Origin of Higgs bison

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.

Questions about Higgs bison

What does Higgs bison mean?
Higgs bison 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).
What part of speech is Higgs bison?
Higgs bison is a noun.
What is the plural of Higgs bison?
The plural of Higgs bison is Higgs bison.

Words near Higgs bison in the dictionary

  1. higgles
  2. higgling
  3. higglings
  4. Higgon
  5. Higgs
  6. Higgs bison
  7. Higgs boson
  8. Higgs bosons
  9. Higgs factories
  10. Higgs factory
  11. Higgs field

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Higgs bison (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “Higgs bison.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/higgs_bison. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.