žirafa

See also: Zirafa, Žirafa, and żirafa

Czech

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂-der.?

Classical Persian سرنا

Proto-Indo-European *ped-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *pṓds

Proto-Indo-Iranian *pā́ts

Proto-Iranian *pā́dah

Old Persian 𐎱𐎠𐎭 (p-a-d)

Classical Persian پَا (pā)

Classical Persian زُرْنَاپَا (zurnāpā)bor.

Classical Syriac ܙܪܝܦܐbor.

Arabic زُرَافَة (zurāfa)bor.

Italian giraffabor.

Czech žirafa

Borrowed from Italian giraffa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈʒɪrafa]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -afa
• Hyphenation: ži‧ra‧fa

Noun

žirafa f (relational adjective žirafí, diminutive žirafečka)

1. giraffe (mammal)

Declension

Declension of žirafa (hard feminine)

	singular	plural
nominative	žirafa	žirafy
genitive	žirafy	žiraf
dative	žirafě	žirafám
accusative	žirafu	žirafy
vocative	žirafo	žirafy
locative	žirafě	žirafách
instrumental	žirafou	žirafami

Derived terms

• žirafák m anim

Further reading

• “žirafa”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “žirafa”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “žirafa”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

Ingrian

Žirafa.

Etymology

From Russian жираф (žiraf).

Pronunciation

• (Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈʒirɑfɑ/, [ˈʒirɑf]
• (Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈʒirɑːfɑ/, [ˈʃirˑɑːfɑ]
• Rhymes: -irɑf, -irɑːfɑ
• Hyphenation: ži‧ra‧fa

Noun

žirafa

1. giraffe
   • 1937, V. A. Tetjurev, translated by N. J. Molotsova, Loonnontiito oppikirja alkușkoulua vart (toin osa), Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-Pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 50:

     Ƶirafa - ono varin Afrikan elokas (kuva 41).

     The giraffe - it's an animal of the warm Africa (image 41).

Declension

Declension of žirafa (type 3/kana, no gradation)
	singular	plural
nominative	žirafa	žirafat
genitive	žirafan	žirafoin
partitive	žirafaa	žirafoja
illative	žirafaa	žirafoihe
inessive	žirafaas	žirafois
elative	žirafast	žirafoist
allative	žirafalle	žirafoille
adessive	žirafaal	žirafoil
ablative	žirafalt	žirafoilt
translative	žirafaks	žirafoiks
essive	žirafanna, žirafaan	žirafoinna, žirafoin
exessive1)	žirafant	žirafoint
1) obsolete *) the accusative corresponds with either the genitive (sg) or nominative (pl) **) the comitative is formed by adding the suffix -ka? or -kä? to the genitive.

Lithuanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian giraffa, from Arabic زَرَافَة (zarāfa).

Noun

žirafà f (plural žirãfos) stress pattern 2

1. giraffe

Declension

Declension of žirafà

	singular (vienaskaita)	plural (daugiskaita)
nominative (vardininkas)	žirafà	žirãfos
genitive (kilmininkas)	žirãfos	žirãfų
dative (naudininkas)	žirãfai	žirãfoms
accusative (galininkas)	žirãfą	žirafàs
instrumental (įnagininkas)	žirafà	žirãfomis
locative (vietininkas)	žirãfoje	žirãfose
vocative (šauksmininkas)	žirãfa	žirãfos

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂-der.?

Classical Persian سرنا

Proto-Indo-European *ped-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *pṓds

Proto-Indo-Iranian *pā́ts

Proto-Iranian *pā́dah

Old Persian 𐎱𐎠𐎭 (p-a-d)

Classical Persian پَا (pā)

Classical Persian زُرْنَاپَا (zurnāpā)bor.

Classical Syriac ܙܪܝܦܐbor.

Arabic زُرَافَة (zurāfa)bor.

Italian giraffabor.

Serbo-Croatian žirafa

Noun

žiràfa f (Cyrillic spelling жира̀фа)

1. giraffe (mammal)

Declension

Declension of žirafa

	singular	plural
nominative	žiràfa	žirafe
genitive	žirafe	žiráfā
dative	žirafi	žirafama
accusative	žirafu	žirafe
vocative	žirafo	žirafe
locative	žirafi	žirafama
instrumental	žirafom	žirafama

Slovak

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian giraffa, from Arabic زَرَافَة (zarāfa).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈʒirafa]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

žirafa f (relational adjective žirafí)

1. giraffe (mammal)

Declension

Declension of žirafa
(pattern žena)

	singular	plural
nominative	žirafa	žirafy
genitive	žirafy	žiráf
dative	žirafe	žirafám
accusative	žirafu	žirafy
locative	žirafe	žirafách
instrumental	žirafou	žirafami

Further reading

• “žirafa”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025

Slovene

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʒiráːfa/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

žirȃfa f

1. giraffe (mammal)

Declension

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Feminine, a-stem
nom. sing.	žiráfa
gen. sing.	žiráfe
	singular	dual	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	žiráfa	žiráfi	žiráfe
genitive (rodȋlnik)	žiráfe	žiráf	žiráf
dative (dajȃlnik)	žiráfi	žiráfama	žiráfam
accusative (tožȋlnik)	žiráfo	žiráfi	žiráfe
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	žiráfi	žiráfah	žiráfah
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	žiráfo	žiráfama	žiráfami

Further reading

• “žirafa”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2025