giant
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See also: Giant
English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English geaunt, geant, from Old French geant, gaiant (Modern French géant) from Vulgar Latin *gagās, gagant-, from Latin gigās, gigant-, from Ancient Greek γίγας (gígas, “giant”) Cognate to giga- (“1,000,000,000”).
Displaced native Old English ent. Compare Modern English ent (“giant tree-man”).
Pronunciation[edit]
- IPA(key): /ˈd͡ʒaɪ.ənt/
- (Canada) IPA(key): /ˈd͡ʒʌɪ.ənt/, /ˈd͡ʒaɪ.ənt/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -aɪənt
- Hyphenation: gi‧ant
Noun[edit]
giant (plural giants)
- A mythical human of very great size.
- (mythology, fantasy) Specifically:
- A very tall and large person.
- 1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 65:
- "It's barbarous, Norsus." "It's Rome," said the giant flatly.
- A tall species of a particular animal or plant.
- (astronomy) A star that is considerably more luminous than a main sequence star of the same temperature (e.g. red giant, blue giant).
- (computing) An Ethernet packet that exceeds the medium's maximum packet size of 1,518 bytes.
- A very large organisation.
- The retail giant is set to acquire two more struggling high-street chains.
- 2020 May 20, “J&J to sell baby powder in UK despite stopping US sales”, in BBC[1], London: BBC, retrieved 2020-05-22:
- Healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson says it will continue to sell its talc-based Johnson's Baby Powder in the UK and the rest of the world, despite stopping sales in the US and Canada.
- A person of extraordinary strength or powers, bodily or intellectual.
- 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
- But then I had the flintlock by me for protection. ¶ There were giants in the days when that gun was made; for surely no modern mortal could have held that mass of metal steady to his shoulder. The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window […].
- 1988, Thomas Dolby, Airhead:
- she's not the intellectual giant
- (gymnastics) A maneuver involving a full rotation around an axis while fully extended.
Synonyms[edit]
See also: Thesaurus:giant
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
mythical human
|
Greek mythological creature
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very tall person
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luminous star
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Adjective[edit]
giant (not comparable)
- Very large.
- 2013 July 26, Nick Miroff, “Mexico gets a taste for eating insects …”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 32:
- The San Juan market is Mexico City's most famous deli of exotic meats, where an adventurous shopper can hunt down hard-to-find critters …. But the priciest items in the market aren't the armadillo steaks or even the bluefin tuna. That would be the frozen chicatanas – giant winged ants – at around $500 a kilo.
Synonyms[edit]
- colossal, enormous, gigantic, immense, prodigious, vast
- See also Thesaurus:large
Antonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
- Aldabra giant tortoise
- Asian giant hornet
- asymptotic giant branch
- Baoruco giant anole
- fluted giant clam
- Galápagos giant tortoise
- Galapagos giant tortoise
- giant anteater
- giant armadillo
- giant banjo frog
- giant barb
- giant barnacle
- giant beaver
- giant burrowing cockroach
- giant butterbur
- giant cane
- giant cell
- giant chinquapin
- giant clam
- giant coot
- giant daikon
- giant deer
- giant elk
- giantess
- giant fennel
- giant forest genet
- giant forest hog
- giant frog
- giant green slantface
- giant groundsel
- giant heron
- giant hogweed
- giant house spider
- giant hyena
- giant hyssop
- giantism
- giant kelp
- giant kelpfish
- giant kettle
- giant kingfisher
- giant lacewing
- giant leopard moth
- giant magnetoresistance
- giant molecule
- Giant Mountains
- giant mouse lemur
- giant oarfish
- giant octopus
- giant otter
- giant pacarana
- giant Pacific octopus
- giant panda
- giant pangolin
- giant peacock moth
- giant periwinkle
- giant petrel
- giant planet
- giant powder
- giant puffball
- giant quasar
- giant radio galaxy
- giant redwood
- giant reed
- giant rhubarb
- giant roundworm
- giant salamander
- giant sequoia
- giant set
- giant slalom
- giant slalom
- giant squid
- giant star
- giant swallowtail
- giant tortoise
- giant tortoise
- giant tree frog
- giant trevally
- giant tube worm
- giant tube worm
- giant virus
- giant walking stick
- giant water bug
- giant weta
- giant white radish
- giant wood rail
- Japanese giant hornet
- Japanese giant salamander
- La Gomera giant lizard
- nettle-leaf giant hyssop
- parallel giant slalom
- pygmy giant panda
- sleeping giant
- South Island giant moa
- spotted giant flying squirrel
- Tenerife giant lizard
- Wallace's giant bee
Translations[edit]
giant
|
Anagrams[edit]
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/aɪənt
- Rhymes:English/aɪənt/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Mythology
- en:Fantasy
- English terms with quotations
- en:Astronomy
- en:Computing
- English terms with usage examples
- en:Gymnastics
- English adjectives
- English uncomparable adjectives
- en:Mythological creatures
- en:Size
- en:Stock characters