Named for what it eats, not what it looks like — the Abenaki called the moose "he who strips bark," describing its winter feeding behavior.
A large deer of North America with broad, flat antlers, the largest living member of the deer family.
From Eastern Abenaki mos or moz, meaning he strips off (bark), referring to the animal's habit of stripping bark from trees to eat Key roots: mos/moz (Eastern Abenaki: "he strips off").
The plural of moose is moose — not meese, not mooses. This is because moose comes from Abenaki, not from Old English, so it doesn't follow the goose/geese vowel-shift pattern. The same animal is called an elk in Europe, creating transatlantic confusion because elk in America means a different animal entirely.