giraffe

See also: Giraffe

English

Giraffe

Etymology

From Middle French giraffe (Modern French girafe), from Italian giraffa, from Arabic زَرَافَة (zarāfa, “giraffe”); ultimately from Classical Persian زُرْنَاپَا (zurnāpā), a compound of زُرْنَا (zurnā, “flute”) and پَا (pā, “leg”). Displaced earlier camelopard.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dʒɪˈɹɑːf/
• (Northern England, Scotland) IPA^(key): /dʒɪˈɹaf/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒəˈɹæf/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːf

Noun

giraffe (plural giraffes or giraffe)

1. A ruminant, of the genus Giraffa, of the African savannah with long legs and highly elongated neck, which make it the tallest living animal; yellow fur patterned with dark spots, often in the form of a network; and two or more short, skin-covered horns, so-called; strictly speaking the horn-like projections are ossicones.
2. A giraffe unicycle.
3. (Cockney rhyming slang) A laugh.

   Are you having a giraffe?!

4. (Internet slang, uncommon) A very tall individual.

Synonyms

• African skyscraper
• camelopard
• (a laugh) bubble bath, bubble

Derived terms

• Angolan giraffe (Giraffa giraffa angolensis)
• Baringo giraffe
• forest giraffe
• giraffe gazelle (Litocranius walleri)
• giraffelike
• giraffe piano
• giraffe sheep
• giraffe weevil (Trachelophorus giraffa)
• giraffish
• giraffy
• high as giraffe pussy
• high as giraffe pussy
• Kilimanjaro giraffe (Giraffa tippelskirchi tippelskirchi)
• Kordofan giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis antiquorum)
• Maasai giraffe, Masai giraffe (Giraffa tippelskirchi tippelskirchi)
• Niger giraffe, Nigerian giraffe (Giraffa peralta)
• northern giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis)
• Nubian giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis camelopardalis)
• reticulated giraffe (Giraffa reticulata)
• Rhodesian giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis thornicrofti)
• Rothschild giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi)
• Rothschild's giraffe
• smoky giraffe (Giraffa giraffa angolensis)
• Somali giraffe (Giraffa reticulata)
• South African giraffe (Giraffa giraffa giraffa)
• Thornicroft's giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis thornicrofti)
• three-horned giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis)
• Ugandan giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi)
• West African giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis peralta)
• zebra giraffe

 

Translations

mammal

• Afar: gari
• Afrikaans: kameelperd (af)
• Albanian: gjirafë (sq)
• Amharic: ቀጭኔ (ḳäč̣ne)
• Arabic: زَرَافَة (ar) f (zarāfa)
• Aragonese: chirafa f
• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܙܪܢܦܐ m (zarnāp̄āʾ), ܓܡܠ ܢܡܪܐ m (gəmal nemrāʾ)

• Armenian: ընձուղտ (hy) (ənjuġt)
• Assamese: জিৰাফ (ziraph)
• Asturian: xirafa (ast) f
• Azerbaijani: zürafə (az)
• Basque: jirafa (eu)
• Belarusian: жыра́фа f (žyráfa)
• Bengali: জরৈফ (jorōiph)
• Bongo: kïlïrü
• Bulgarian: жира́ф (bg) m (žiráf), жира́фа (bg) f (žiráfa)
• Burmese: သစ်ကုလားအုတ် (my) (sacku.la:ut)
• Catalan: girafa (ca) f
• Central Melanau: jirapah
• Cherokee: ᏗᎦᎵᏍᏚᎩᏍᎩ (digalisdugisgi)
• Cheyenne: tsėhe'ėsenotováhe
• Chichewa: nyamalikiti, nswala
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 長頸鹿／长颈鹿 (coeng⁴ geng² luk⁶, coeng⁴ geng² luk^6-2)

  Hakka: 長頸鹿／长颈鹿 (chhòng-kiáng-lu̍k)

  Hokkien: 長頷鹿／长颔鹿 (zh-min-nan) (tn̂g-ām-lo̍k), 長頭鹿仔／长头鹿仔 (tn̂g-thâu-lo̍k-á), 麒麟鹿 (kî-lîn-lo̍k)

  Mandarin: 長頸鹿／长颈鹿 (zh) (chángjǐnglù)

• Coptic: ⲁⲛⲑⲉⲣⲟⲥ f (antheros)
• Cornish: jiraff m
• Czech: žirafa (cs) f
• Danish: giraf (da) c
• Daur: чилин (čilin)
• Dhivehi: ޒަރާފާ (zarāfā)
• Dutch: giraf (nl) f
• Egyptian: (mmj)
• Erzya: дуебабри (dujebabŕi)
• Esperanto: ĝirafo
• Estonian: kaelkirjak (et)
• Faroese: giraffur m
• Finnish: kirahvi (fi)
• French: girafe (fr) f, chameaupard m (archaic, obsolete)
• Galician: xirafa (gl) f
• Georgian: ჟირაფი (žirapi)
• German: Giraffe (de) f
• Greek: καμηλοπάρδαλη (el) f (kamilopárdali)

  Ancient: καμηλοπάρδαλις f (kamēlopárdalis)

• Guerrero Amuzgo: kió' xtyo' tkò
• Gujarati: જિરાફ (jirāph)
• Hadza: zzókwanako, háwayii (triumphal name)
• Haitian Creole: jiraf
• Hawaiian: kamelopaki
• Hebrew: גִ׳ירָף m (jiraf)
• Hindi: जिराफ़ m (jirāf), जिराफ (hi) m (jirāph), जराफ़ (jarāf), जुराफा (hi) (jurāphā), जराफा (hi) m (jarāphā)
• Hungarian: zsiráf (hu)
• Hunsrik: Schiraff f
• Icelandic: gíraffi (is) m
• Ido: jirafo (io)
• Indonesian: jerapah (id), zarafah (id)
• Irish: sioráf
• Italian: giraffa (it) f
• Japanese: 麒麟 (ja) (きりん, kirin), キリン (ja) (kirin)
• Kalmyk: анаш (anaş)
• Kannada: ಜಿರಾಫೆ (jirāphe)
• Kazakh: жираф (jiraf), керік (kerık)
• Khmer: ហ្សីរ៉ាហ្វ (ziiraaf), កវែង (km) (kɑɑ vɛɛng)
• Khoekhoe: ǃnaib
• Kikuyu: ndũiga class 9/10, njirabu
• Korean: 기린(麒麟) (ko) (girin)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: زەڕافە (ckb) (zerrafe), ھێشترگا (hêştirga)

  Northern Kurdish: hêştirga (ku), canhêştir (ku), zirafe (ku)

• Kyrgyz: жираф (jiraf), акыра (akıra)
• Laalaa: njabala
• Lao: ກວາງຄໍຍາວ (lo) (kuāng khǭ nyāo)
• Latin: camelopardalis (la) f
• Latvian: žirafe f
• Lithuanian: žirafa (lt) f
• Luxembourgish: Giraff (lb) f
• Maasai: olmeut m
• Macedonian: жира́фа f (žiráfa)
• Malay: zirafah (ms)
• Malayalam: ജിറാഫ് (ml) (jiṟāphŭ)
• Maori: kakīroa
• Middle Persian: 𐭥𐭱𐭲𐭫𐭢𐭠𐭥𐭯𐭫𐭭𐭢 (ʿštlgʾʿplng /⁠uštar-gāw-palang⁠/)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: анааш (mn) (anaaš)

  Mongolian: ᠠᠨᠠᠰᠢ (anasi)

• Navajo: tsinlátah ayáanii
• Norman: girafe f
• Northern Sotho: thutlwa
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sjiraff (no) m

  Nynorsk: sjiraff m

• Occitan: girafa (oc) f
• Oromo: sattawwaa
• Pashto: زرافه (ps) f (zarāfá)
• Persian: زرّافه (fa) (zarrâfe), شترگاوپلنگ (fa) (šotorgâvpalang), زرناپا (zornâpâ)
• Polish: żyrafa (pl) f
• Portuguese: girafa (pt) f
• Romanian: girafă (ro) f
• Romansch: giraffa f
• Russian: жира́ф (ru) m (žiráf), жира́фа (ru) f (žiráfa) (obsolete), гира́ф m (giráf) (obsolete)
• Samoan: serafa
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: жира̀фа f

  Roman: žiràfa (sh) f

• Sicilian: jirafa f, zirafa f
• Sinhalese: ජිරාෆ් (jirāf)
• Slovak: žirafa (sk) f
• Slovene: žirafa (sl) f
• Somali: geri
• Sotho: thuhlo
• Spanish: jirafa (es) f
• Swahili: twiga (sw)
• Swedish: giraff (sv) c
• Sylheti: ꠎꠤꠞꠣꠚ (zirafó)
• Tagalog: hirapa
• Tajik: заррофа (tg) (zarrofa), шутурпаланг (šuturpalang)
• Tamil: ஒட்டகச்சிவிங்கி (ta) (oṭṭakacciviṅki)
• Telugu: జిరాఫీ (te) (jirāphī)
• Thai: ยีราฟ (th) (yii-ráap)
• Tigrinya: ዝዖታ (zəʿota), ዘራፍ (zäraf)
• Tongan: selafi
• Tooro: entwiga class 9
• Tswana: thutlwa (tn)
• Turkish: zürafa (tr)
• Turkmen: žiraf (tk)
• Ukrainian: жира́фа f (žyráfa), жира́ф m (žyráf)
• Urdu: جراف m (jirāf), زرافہ (ur) (zarrāfe)
• Uyghur: زىراپە (zirape)
• Uzbek: jirafa (uz), zirofa (uz)
• Vietnamese: hươu cao cổ (vi)
• Volapük: giraf (vo)
• Welsh: jiráff m
• Wolof: njamala mi (wo)
• Xhosa: indlulamthi class 9/10
• Yiddish: זשיראַף m (zhiraf)
• Zhuang: loeghozraez
• Zulu: indlulamithi (zu) class 9/10

Further reading

• giraffe on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Giraffa on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Giraffa on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• riffage

Dutch

Etymology

Possibly via German Giraffe, from Italian giraffa, from Arabic زَرَافَة (zarāfa).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʒiˈrɑf/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: gi‧raf‧fe
• Rhymes: -ɑf

Noun

giraffe f (plural giraffen or giraffes, diminutive giraffetje n or girafje n)

1. Alternative spelling of giraf.

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

giraffe f (plural giraffes)

1. Archaic spelling of girafe.

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒiˈraf.fe/
• Rhymes: -affe
• Hyphenation: gi‧ràf‧fe

Noun

giraffe f

1. plural of giraffa