شترگاوپلنگ

Persian

FWOTD – 30 August 2025

Alternative forms

اشترگاوپلنگ (ušturgāwpalang / oštorgâvpalang), شترگاو (šuturgāw / šotorgâv), اشترگاو (ušturgāw / oštorgâv), گاوپلنگ (gāwpalang / gâvpalang)

Etymology

From Middle Persian ʾwštlgʾwplng (uštar-gāw-palang, “giraffe”), from ʾwštl (uštar, “camel”) +‎ gʾw (gāw, “ox, cow, bull”) +‎ plng (palang, “leopard”). By surface analysis, شتر (šutur / šotor, “camel”) +‎ گاو (gāw / gâv, “cow”) +‎ پلنگ (palang, “leopard”).

Compare Old Armenian շտրպաղանգ (štrpałang), an Iranian borrowing. For the formation compare Ancient Greek καμηλοπάρδαλις (kamēlopárdalis), Old Armenian ընձուղտ (ənjułt), Classical Syriac ܓܡܠ ܢܡܪܐ (ɡmal-nemrā).

Pronunciation

(Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /ʃu.tur.ɡaːw.pa.ˈlanɡ/

(Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [ʃʊ.t̪ʰʊɾ.ɡɑːw.pʰä.láŋɡ]
- (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [ʃʊ.t̪ʰʊɾ.ɡɑːw.pʰä.láŋɡ]
- (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [ʃu.t̪ʰuɾ.ɡäw.pʰä.láŋɡ̥]

(Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [ʃo.t̪ʰoɹ.ɡɒːv.pʰæ.lǽɲɡʲ̥]

(Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [ʃu.t̪ʰuɾ.ɡɔw.pʰä.láŋɡ]

Rhymes: -anɡ

Readings
Classical reading^?	šuturgāwpalang
Dari reading^?	šuturgāwpalang
Iranian reading^?	šotorgâvpalang
Tajik reading^?	šuturgovpalang

Noun

شترگاوپلنگ • (šuturgāwpalang / šotorgâvpalang) (plural شترگاوپلنگ‌ها (šuturgāwpalang-hā / šotorgâvpalang-hâ), or شترگاوپلنگان (šuturgāwpalangān / šotorgâvpalangân), Tajik spelling шутурговпаланг)

(archaic) camelopard, giraffe
Synonyms: زرافه (zarāfa / zarâfe), زراف (zarāf / zarâf), زرناپا (zurnāpā / zornâpâ)
Anything made up of very different parts
- 20th c., Mohammad Farrokhi Yazdi, Divan-e Robaiyat‎^[1]:
  از یک طرفی مجلس ما شیک و قشنگ
  از یک طرفی عرصه به ملیون تنگ
  قانون و حکومت نظامی و فشار
  این است حکومت شتر گاو پلنگ
  On one hand, our Parliament is so classy and beautiful
  on the other hand, a million people are living in dire conditions
  Law, martial law, and pressure
  A government consisted of very disparate parts becomes like this

References

Dehkhoda, Ali-Akbar (1931–), “شترگاوپلنگ”, in Dehkhoda Dictionary Institute, editors, Dehkhoda Dictionary (in Persian), Tehran: University of Tehran Press.
MacKenzie, D. N. (1971), “uštar”, in A concise Pahlavi dictionary, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, page 85