Carabaos (Filipino: kalabáw) are a genetically distinct population of swamp-type water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis kerabau) from the Philippines. They were also further introduced to Sulawesi and Borneo of eastern Indonesia and Malaysia.

Carabaos are the traditional draft animals in the Philippines for paddy field rice cultivation and are commonly raised by smallholder farmers. They were also formerly widely used for the transport of goods throughout the islands. They are a source of carabao milk and carabeef, among other products. The carabao is widely considered to be the national animal of the Philippines and symbolizes hard work.

Carabaos were introduced to Guam from the Philippines in the 17th century. They have also acquired great cultural significance to the Chamorro people and are considered the unofficial national animal of Guam.

The term "carabao" is also sometimes used for the kerbau in Malaysia, which is the official animal of the state of Negeri Sembilan. However, water buffaloes from Peninsular Malaysia and western Indonesia (Java and Sumatra) are not carabaos and descend from different populations that were introduced through a later separate route from Mainland Southeast Asia rather than through Taiwan.

The English term "carabao" is borrowed from the Spanish word carabao, which is derived from Eastern Visayan (likely Waray) karabàw. The female is called (in Spanish) a caraballa. Cognates include Cebuano kábaw, Tagalog kalabáw, Kavalan qabaw, Minangkabau kabau, Malay kerbau, Javanese kebo, and Indonesian Dutch karbouw. These Austronesian terms appear to be loanwords from the Austroasiatic languages and likely derive from a secondary pre-colonial introduction of water buffaloes into Island Southeast Asia via western Indonesia.

However, it is also clear that Austronesians already had ancient terms for the carabao, reconstructed as Proto-Austronesian *qaNuaŋ. Cognates include Papora loan, Thao qnuwan, Siraya luang, Rukai nwange, Ilocano nuang, Tagalog anwang or anowang, Kankanaey nuang, Isneg nuang, Itawis nwang, Bontoc nuwang, Ifugao nuwang, and Aklanon anwang. Cognates survive into Sulawesi, but the terms there apply to the related anoa. Similarly, Hanunó'o anwang also refers to the tamaraw of Mindoro, rather than the carabao. These terms spread southwards from Taiwan, indicating that domesticated carabaos were carried partially into the Philippines during the Austronesian expansion, but didn't move further south into the rest of Island Southeast Asia until the second introduction from Mainland Southeast Asia. The reason for this is unknown.

Other native names for carabaos include damulag in Tagalog, Bikol, and Kapampangan; dueg in Pangasinan; and pagad in Ivatan. The resemblance of the word "carabao" to caribou is coincidental, and they do not share a common etymology — an example of a false cognate.

The oldest evidence of water buffalo discovered in the Philippines is multiple fragmentary skeletal remains recovered from the upper layers of the Neolithic Nagsabaran site, part of the Lal-lo and Gattaran Shell Middens (~2200 BCE to 400 CE) of northern Luzon. Most of the remains consisted of skull fragments, almost all of which have cut marks indicating they were butchered. The remains are associated with red slipped pottery, spindle whorls, stone adzes, and jade bracelets; which have strong affinities to similar artifacts from Neolithic Austronesian archeological sites in Taiwan. Based on the radiocarbon date of the layer in which the oldest fragments were found, water buffalo were already present in the Philippines by at least 500 BCE.