The word 'zebu' entered English in the late 18th century from French, which itself borrowed it from the Tibetan term 'mdzo-po', referring to a hybrid of a yak and cattle. The term's journey reflects European colonial exploration and natural history, where foreign animals were cataloged using their indigenous names. Over time, its application narrowed in scientific and agricultural English to specify the distinctive humped cattle of Asia and Africa, distinguishing them from European breeds. The word's history is a direct example of a loanword, retaining its form as a simplex without internal morphological structure in English.

This word is a loanword adopted as a single, unanalyzable unit in English.