/nooh, nyooh/ , n. , pl. gnus , ( esp. collectively ) gnu .
either of two stocky, oxlike antelopes of the genus Connochaetes, the silver-gray, white-bearded C. taurinus of the eastern African plain and the black, white-tailed C. gnou of central South Africa: recently near extinction, the South African gnu is now protected. Also called wildebeest .
[ 1770-80; t'gnu; prob. to be identified with nû black, as applying orig. to the black wildebeest ]