elephant

See also éléphant

English

Etymology

Middle English elefant, elefaunt, from Middle French elephant, learned borrowing from Latin elephantus, from Ancient Greek ἐλέφας (eléphās) (gen. ἐλέφαντος (eléphantos)), compound of Berber *eḷu ‘elephant’ (compare Tamahaq (Tahaggart) êlu, (Ghat) alu) and Egyptian 𓍋𓃀𓅱𓌟 (ȝbw) (ābu) ‘elephant; ivory’. More at ivory. Replaced Middle English olifant, which replaced Old English elpend, olfend.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɛləfənt/, /ˈɛlɪfənt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

elephant (plural elephants)

An African bush elephant.

1. A mammal of the order Proboscidea, having a trunk, and two large ivory tusks jutting from the upper jaw.
2. (figuratively) Anything huge and ponderous.
3. (paper, printing) A printing-paper size measuring 30 inches x 22 inches.
4. (UK, childish) used when counting to add length.

   Let's play hide and seek. I'll count. One elephant, two elephant, three elephant...

Synonyms

• (animal): Elephas maximus, Loxodonta africana
• (counting term): (US) alligator

Derived terms

Terms derived from the noun elephant

African bush elephant African elephant African forest elephant Asian elephant Asiatic elephant Borneo elephant, Borneo pygmy elephant double elephant, double elephant paper dwarf elephant elephant apple elephant bed elephant beetle elephant bird, elephantbird elephant chess elephant-color, elephant-colour elephant cord elephant creeper elephant ear, elephant ears elephant fish elephant flipping elephant folio Elephant Gambit elephant garlic elephant grass elephant-gravel elephant-gray, elephant-grey

elephant gun Elephant Hall elephant hawk moth elephanticide elephantide elephant in Cairo elephant in the corner, elephant in the kitchen, elephant in the living room, elephant in the room Elephant Island elephantitis elephant joke elephant juice elephant leg Elephant Man elephant man's disease elephant man's syndrome elephant on the dinner table elephant paper elephant-path elephant pearl elephant polo elephant-rain elephantry elephant's breath elephant seal

elephant's ear, elephant's ears elephant's foot elephant's foot umbrella stand elephant's-grass elephants' graveyard elephantship elephant shrew elephant's teeth elephant's trunk, elephant trunk Elephant's Trunk Nebula elephant's trunk plant elephant's trunk snake elephant's tusk elephant's-tusks elephant's-vine elephant test elephant trank elephant tranquilizer, elephant tranquilliser, elephant tranquillizer Elephant Trap elephant tree elephant-trumpet elephant-trunk fish Elephant Trunk nebula elephant-tusk elephant yam

Flying Elephant forest elephant get a look at the elephant imperial elephant Indian elephant Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant Order of the Elephant pad elephant pink elephant pink elephants pseudelephant pygmy elephant retail elephant rogue elephant savanna elephant, savannah elephant sea elephant see the elephant show the elephant Sri Lankan elephant straight-tusked elephant Sumatran elephant temple elephant war elephant water elephant white elephant

Related terms

Related terms

chryselephantine elephancy elephanta

elephanter elephantiac elephantiasis

elephantic Elephantidae elephantine

elephantoid Elephantopus Elephas

Translations

mammal

Afrikaans: olifant (af) Albanian: elefant (sq) Amharic: ዝሆን (am) (zəhonə) Anglo-Norman: olifan m. Arabic: فيل (fīl) m. Aramaic: Syriac: ܦܝܠܐ (pīlā’) m., ܦܝܠܬܐ (pīltā’) f. Hausa: giwa (ha) f. Hebrew: פילא (pīlā’) m., פילתא (pīltā’) f. Armenian: փիղ (p'iġ) Asturian: elefante (ast) m. Azeri: fil Basque: elefante Belarusian: слон (be) (słon) m. Bengali: হাতি (hāti) Bosnian: slon (bs) m., slonica (bs) f. Breton: olifant m., olifanted pl. Bulgarian: слон (bg) (slon) m. Burmese: ဆင် (my) (hsin) Catalan: elefant (ca) m. Cherokee: ᎧᎹᎹ (chr) (kamama), ᎧᎹᎹ ᎤᏔᎾ (chr) (kamama utana) Chinese: 象 (xiàng), 大象 (dàxiàng) Croatian: slon (hr) m., slonica (hr) f. Czech: slon (cs) m. Danish: elefant (da) Dutch: olifant (nl) m. Egyptian: ȝbw Esperanto: (male or female) elefanto (eo), (male) virelefanto (eo), (female) elefantino (eo) Estonian: elevant (et) Faroese: fílur (fo) m. Finnish: norsu (fi), elefantti (fi) French: éléphant (fr) m. Old French: olifan m. Middle French: elephant m. Friulian: elefant Galician: elefante m. Georgian: სპილო (ka) (spilo) German: Elefant (de) m., (female) Elefantin (de) f. Greek: ελέφαντας (el) (eléfantas) m. Ancient Greek: ἐλέφας (elephas) Hebrew: פִּיל (he) (pil) Hindi: हाथी (hāthī), हस्ती (hastī), गज (gaj) Hungarian: elefánt (hu) Icelandic: fíll (is) m. Indonesian: gajah (id) Interlingua: elephante Irish: eilifint (ga) Italian: elefante (it) m. Japanese: 象 (ぞう, zō) Kalenjin: ebelio Khmer: ដំរី (km) (dɑmrəy) Kongo: nzau Korean: 코끼리 (kokkiri) Kurdish: فیل (ku) Ladin: elefant Lao: ຊ້າງ (saang) Latin: elephantus (la), elephas (la)

Latvian: zilonis (lv) m. Lithuanian: dramblys (lt) Lower Sorbian: elefant, (słon) Luhya: enjofu Macedonian: слон (slon) m. Malay: gajah (ms) Malayalam: ആന (aana) Maltese: iljunfant (mt) Mongolian: заан (mn) (zaan) Nahuatl: elefante (nah) Navajo: bichį́į́h yee adilohii Norwegian: elefant (no) m. Occitan: elefant m. Ojibwe: jejiibajikii Old English: elpend (ang) m. Old Norse: fíll m. Ossetian: пыл (pyl) Pali: hatthin m., nāga m., gaja m. Persian: فیل (fil), پیل (pil) Polish: słoń (pl) m., słonica (pl) f. Portuguese: elefante (pt) m., elefanta (pt) f. Romani: woroslano m., woroslanka f. Romanian: elefant (ro) Romansch: elefant (rm) Russian: слон (ru) (slon) m. Sami: elefánta Samoan: 'elefane (sm) Sanskrit: इभ (sa) (ibhas) m., गज (sa) (gaja) m. Sardinian: elefante/elefanti Scottish Gaelic: ailbhean (gd) m. Serbian: Cyrillic: слон (sr) m., слоница (sr) f. Roman: slon m., slonica f. Sicilian: liotru m., lifanti m. Slovak: slon (sk) m. Slovene: slon (sl) m., slonica (sl) f. Spanish: elefante (es) m. Swahili: ndovu (sw), tembo (sw) Swedish: elefant (sv) Tagalog: elepante (tl) Tamil: யானை (ta) (ya.Nai) Tatar: фил (tt) Telugu: ఏనుగు (te) (aenugu) Thai: ช้าง (th) (chang) Tswana: tlou (tn) (9/10) Turkish: fil (tr) Turkmen: pil (tk) Ukrainian: слон (uk) (slon) m. Upper Sorbian: elefant, (słon) Urdu: ہاتھی (hāthī), ہستی (hastī), فیل (fīl), پیل (pīl), گج (gaj) Uyghur: پىل (ug) Vietnamese: voi (vi) Vilamovian: elefaont Volapük: (♂♀) leefad (vo), (♂) hileefad (vo), (♀) jileefad (vo), (♂♀ offspring, baby) leefadül (vo), (♂ offspring, baby) hileefadül (vo), (♀ offspring, baby) jileefadül (vo), (older term, obsolete) nelfan (vo) Welsh: eliffant (cy) West Frisian: oaljefant (fy) c. Wolof: ñey wi (wo)

anything huge and ponderous

French: éléphantesque (fr) m. and f.

Swahili: kubwa (sw)

External links

• Elephant on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Elephant (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia:Elephant (disambiguation)

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Middle French

Un elephant.

Noun

elephant m. (plural elephans)

1. elephant (animal)

Descendants

• French: éléphant