Why do we call bison a buffalo?

The word buffalo is derived from the French bu0153uf, a name given to bison when French fur trappers working in the US in the early 1600s saw the animals. The word bu0153uf came from what the French knew as true buffalo, animals living in Africa and Asia.

Which is correct bison or buffalo?

The term buffalo, as it applies to our North American species, is simply incorrect. The famous mammal’s correct name is bison. Why the misnomer? Well, it goes all the way back to the early settlers who arrived in the American West from across the Atlantic.