elephant

See also: Elephant, éléphant, and êléphant

English

Etymology

From Middle English elefant, elefaunt, from Old French elefant, elefan, olifant, re-latinized in Middle French as elephant, from Latin elephantus, from Ancient Greek ἐλέφᾱς (eléphās) (gen. ἐλέφαντος (eléphantos)). Believed to be derived from an Afroasiatic form such as Proto-Berber *eḷu (“elephant”) (compare Tamahaq êlu, Tamasheq alu) or Egyptian ꜣbw (“elephant; ivory”). More at ivory. Replaced Middle English olifant (from the aforementioned Old French form, from Vulgar Latin *olifantus), which replaced Old English elpend (“elephant”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛləfənt/, /ˈɛlɪfənt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

an elephant

Noun

elephant (countable and uncountable, plural elephants)

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) Synonym of elephant paper
4. (British, childish) used when counting to add length, so that each count takes about one second

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

5. (uncountable, obsolete) Ivory.
   • John Dryden's translation of Virgil's Aeneid

     He sent rich gifts of elephant and gold.

Synonyms

• (animal): Elephas maximus, Loxodonta africana
• (counting term): see Appendix:Words used as placeholders to count seconds

Hyponyms

• (animal): African bush elephant, African forest elephant, Indian elephant, African elephant

Derived terms

• African bush elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis)
• African elephant (Loxodonta spp.)
• African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis)
• Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)
• Asiatic elephant (Elephas maximus)
• Borneo elephant, Borneo pygmy elephant ()
• double elephant, double elephant paper
• dwarf elephant
• Elephant and Castle
• elephant apple
• elephant bed
• elephant beetle (, Curculionoidea spp.)
• elephant bird, elephantbird (†Aepyornithidae)
• elephant bug (Curculionoidea spp.)
• elephant chess
• elephant-color, elephant-colour
• elephant cord
• elephant creeper ()
• elephant ear, elephant ears
• elephant fish
• elephant flipping
• elephant folio
• elephant foot ()
• elephant foot ()
• 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 louse ()
• 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 (Mirounga spp.)
• elephant's ear, elephant's ears
• elephant's foot
• elephant's foot umbrella stand
• elephant's-grass
• elephants' graveyard
• elephant shark ()
• elephant's head ()
• elephantship
• elephant shrew (Macroscelididae)
• elephant snout ()
• elephant's teeth
• elephant's trunk, elephant trunk ( or )
• Elephant's Trunk Nebula
• elephant's trunk plant ()
• elephant's tusk
• elephant's-tusks
• elephant's-vine
• elephant test
• elephant thorn ()
• elephant tortoise ( or )
• elephant trank
• elephant tranquilizer, elephant tranquilliser, elephant tranquillizer
• Elephant Trap
• elephant tree ()
• elephant-trumpet
• elephant trunk fish ()
• elephant trunkfish ()
• Elephant Trunk nebula
• elephant trunk snake ()
• elephant-tusk ()
• elephant yam ( or )
• Flying Elephant
• forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis)
• get a look at the elephant
• imperial elephant
• Indian elephant (Elephas maximus)
• 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 (Loxodonta cyclotis)
• sea elephant (Mirounga)
• see the elephant
• show the elephant
• Sri Lankan elephant
• straight-tusked elephant
• Sumatran elephant
• temple elephant
• war elephant
• water elephant
• white elephant

 

Descendants

• → Welsh: eliffant
• → Hawaiian: 'elepani
• → Maori: arewhana

Related terms

• chryselephantine
• elephancy
• elephanta
• elephanter
• elephantiac
• elephantiasis
• elephantic
• Elephantidae
• elephantine
• elephantoid
• Elephantopus
• Elephas

 

Translations

mammal

• Abkhaz: аслан (aslan)
• Acehnese: gajah
• Afrikaans: olifant (af)
• Albanian: elefant (sq)
• Amharic: ዝሆን (zəhon)
• Arabic: فِيل m (fīl)

  Egyptian Arabic: فيل m (fīl)

• Aramaic:

  Hebrew: פילא m (pīlā’), פילתא f (pīltā’)

  Syriac: ܦܝܠܐ m (pīlā’), ܦܝܠܬܐ f (pīltā’)

• Armenian: փիղ (hy) (pʻiġ)
• Assamese: হাতী (hati)
• Asturian: elefante m
• Ateso: etome
• Azerbaijani: fil (az)
• Banjarese: gajah
• Bashkir: фил (fil)
• Basque: elefante (eu)
• Bau Bidayuh: gajah
• Belarusian: слон m (slon), слані́ха f (slaníxa)
• Bengali: হাতি (bn) (hati)
• Blackfoot: innóóhksisii
• Breton: olifant (br) m
• Brunei Malay: gajah
• Bulgarian: слон (bg) m (slon)
• Burmese: ဆင် (my) (hcang)
• Catalan: elefant (ca) m

  Old Catalan: orifany m, aurifany m, olifany m

• Central Melanau: gajah
• Chechen: пийл (piı̇l)
• Cherokee: ᎧᎹᎹ (kamama), ᎧᎹᎹ ᎤᏔᎾ (kamama utana)
• Cheyenne: tsêhe'êseeséhe
• Chichewa: njovu
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 象 (zoeng⁶), 大象 (daai⁶ zoeng⁶), 大笨象 (daai⁶ ban⁶ zoeng⁶)

  Dungan: щён (xi͡on)

  Mandarin: 象 (zh) (xiàng), 大象 (zh) (dàxiàng)

• Chol: elefanti
• Chukchi: эʼԓыпын (ėʼḷypyn)
• Classical Nahuatl: elepantli
• Cornish: olifans m
• Czech: slon (cs) m, slonice (cs) f
• Dagbani: wobgu
• Danish: elefant (da) c
• Dinka: akoon
• Dutch: olifant (nl) m, elpendier n, elp m
• Egyptian: (ꜣbw)
• Ekpeye: enyî
• Esperanto: elefanto (eo)
• Estonian: elevant (et)
• Faroese: fílur (fo) m
• Finnish: norsu (fi), elefantti (fi)
• French: éléphant (fr) m, éléphante (fr) f, éléphanteau (fr) m, (rare) éléphantelle (fr) f

  Middle French: elephant m

  Old French: olifan m

• Friulian: elefant
• Gagauz: fillär
• Galician: elefante (gl) m
• Georgian: სპილო (sṗilo)
• German: Elefant (de) m, Elefantenbulle (de) m, Elefantin f, Elefantenkuh f, Elefantenkalb n

  Alemannic German: Elifant m

• Greek: ελέφαντας (el) m (eléfantas)

  Ancient: ἐλέφας (eléphas)

• Greenlandic: nagguaatsoq
• Guaraní: tapi'itĩmbuku
• Gujarati: હાથી (gu) m (hāthī)
• Gwere: nzogi
• Hausa: giwa f
• Hawaiian: 'elepani
• Hebrew: פִּיל (he) m (pil)
• Hindi: हाथी (hi) m (hāthī), हस्ती (hi) m (hastī), गज (hi) m (gaj)
• Hungarian: elefánt (hu)
• Ibibio: eniin
• Icelandic: fíll (is) m
• Ido: elefanto (io)
• Ilocano: gadia
• Indonesian: gajah (id)
• Interlingua: elephante
• Interlingue:
• Irish: eilifint f
• Isan: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: elefante (it) m
• Japanese: 象 (ja) (ぞう, zō), ゾウ (ja) (zō)
• Javanese: ꦒꦗꦃ (gajah)
• Jingpho: magwi (spelling in Myanmar), magui (spelling in China)
• Kalenjin: ebelio
• Kalmyk: зан (zan)
• Kamba: nzou
• Kannada: ಆನೆ (kn) (āne), ಗಜ (kn) (gaja)
• Kashmiri: ہوٚس (hos)
• Kashubian: słóń m
• Kazakh: піл (kk) (pıl)
• Khasi: hati
• Khmer: ដំរី (km) (dɑmrəy)
• Kikuyu: njogu class 9/10
• Kongo: nzau, nzau
• Korean: 코끼리 (ko) (kokkiri)
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji:

  Sorani: فیل (fîl)

• Kyrgyz: пил (ky) (pil)
• Ladin: elefant
• Ladino: איליפ׳אנטי (elefante)
• Lao: ຊ້າງ (lo) (sāng)
• Latin: elephantus (la), elephas (la), barrus m, Lūca bōs m or f
• Latvian: zilonis (lv) m
• Lezgi: фил (fil)
• Lingala: nzɔku
• Lithuanian: dramblys (lt) m
• Luhya: enjofu
• Lü: ᦋᦱᧂᧉ (tsaang²)
• Maasai: olkanchaoi m, olenkaina m, oltome m
• Macedonian: слон m (slon)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Madurese: ꦓꦙ (ghajha)
• Malagasy: elefanta (mg)
• Malay: gajah, biram
• Malayalam: ആന (ml) (āna)
• Maltese: iljunfant
• Mandinka: samoo
• Marathi: हत्ती m (hattī)
• Mezquital Otomi: elefante
• Mirandese: eilefante m
• Mongolian: заан (mn) (zaan)
• Mukulu: 'elbi
• Mwani: nembo
• Nahuatl: elefante (nah)
• Nama: ǂkhoab
• Navajo: bíchį́į́h yee adilohii
• Nepali: हात्ती (ne) m (hāttī)
• Newar: किसी (kisī)
• Ngazidja Comorian: nɗovu class 9/10
• Norman: êléphant m
• Northern Sami: elefánta
• Northern Thai: ᨩ᩶ᩣ᩠ᨦ (cang)
• Norwegian: elefant (no) m
• Nuer: guɔr
• Nupe: dagba
• Occitan: elefant (oc) m
• Ojibwe: jejiibajikii
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: слонь m (slonĭ)

• Old East Slavic: слонъ m (slonŭ)
• Old English: elpend m
• Old Norse: fíll m
• Ossetian: пыл (pyl)
• Pali: hatthin m, nāga m, gaja m
• Pashto: پيل (ps) m (pil)
• Persian: فیل (fa) (fil), پیل (fa) (pil)

  Middle Persian: pyl (pīl)

• Polish: słoń (pl) m anim, słonica (pl) f
• Portuguese: elefante (pt) m, elefanta (pt) f, aliá (pt) f, elefoa (pt) f, alifante (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਹਾਥੀ m (hāthī)
• Rade: êman
• Rajasthani: गयंद m (gayãnd)
• Romani: woroslano m, woroslanka f
• Romanian: elefant (ro) m
• Romansch: elefant
• Russian: слон (ru) m (slon), слони́ха (ru) f (sloníxa)
• Rusyn: слон m (slon)
• Rwanda-Rundi: inzovu
• Samoan: 'elefane
• Sanskrit: गज (sa) m (gaja), इभ (sa) m (ibha), हस्तिन् (sa) m (hastin)
• Santali: ᱦᱟᱹᱛᱤ (hăti)
• Sardinian: elefante ?, elefanti ?
• Scottish Gaelic: ailbhean m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сло̏н m, сло̀ница f

  Roman: slȍn (sh) m, slònica (sh) f

• Shan: ၸၢင်ႉ (tsâ̰ang)
• Shona: nzou
• Sicilian: liotru (scn) m, lifanti m
• Sindhi: ہاٿيِ (hāthī)
• Sinhalese: අලියා (aliyā)
• Slovak: slon (sk) m
• Slovene: slon (sl) m, slonica (sl) f
• Somali: maroodi
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: elefant m, słon m (literary)

  Upper Sorbian: elefant (hsb) m, słon m

• Sotho: tlou (st)
• Spanish: elefante (es) m

  Old Spanish: alefant m, eleofant m, elifant m

• Sundanese: ᮌᮏᮂ (gajah)
• Supyire: ńtàsùù
• Swahili: ndovu (sw), tembo (sw)
• Swazi: indlovu
• Swedish: elefant (sv)
• Sylheti: ꠀꠔ꠆ꠔꠤ (atti)
• Tagal Murut: godingan, godingan
• Tagalog: elepante (tl), gadya (tl), ᜄᜇᜌ (garaya)
• Tajik: фил (tg) (fil)
• Tamil: யானை (ta) (yāṉai)
• Tangale: labata
• Tatar: фил (tt) (fil)
• Tedaga: kumon
• Telugu: ఏనుగు (te) (ēnugu), గజము (te) (gajamu)
• Thai: ช้าง (th) (cháang), คชสาร (th) (kót-chá-sǎan)
• Tibetan: གླང་ཆེན (glang chen)
• Tigrinya: ሓርማዝ (ti) (ḥarmaz)
• Toba Batak: ᯎᯐ (gaja)
• Tswana: tlou class 9/10
• Turkana: etom
• Turkish: fil (tr)
• Turkmen: pil
• Uduk: jè
• Ukrainian: слон (uk) m (slon), слони́ха f (slonýxa), слонь m (slonʹ) (archaic)
• Urdu: ہاتھی m (hāthī), ہستی m (hastī), گج m (gaj), فیل m (fīl), پیل m (pīl)
• Uyghur: پىل (pil)
• Uzbek: fil (uz)
• Venda: nḓou
• Vietnamese: voi (vi)
• Vilamovian: elefaont
• Volapük: leefad (vo)
• Welsh: eliffant (cy)
• West Coast Bajau: datu', gaja
• West Frisian: oaljefant c
• White Hmong: ntxhw
• Wolof: ñey wi, ñay (wo)
• Xhosa: indlovu
• Yagnobi: фил (fil)
• Yaqui: elehaánte
• Yiddish: העלפֿאַנד m (helfand)
• Yoruba: erin
• Yucatec Maya: chowak jom, elefante
• Zazaki: fîl
• Zhuang: duzciengh
• Zulu: indlovu (zu) class 9/10

anything huge and ponderous

• Finnish: mammutti (fi)
• French: éléphantesque (fr) m or f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Swahili: kubwa (sw)

Further reading

• Template:projectlink
• Template:projectlink

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Middle French

Noun

elephant m (plural elephans)

1. elephant (animal)

Descendants

• French: éléphant
  • Haitian Creole: elefan
  • → Romanian: elefant
• → Irish: eilifint
• → Norman: êléphant, éléphant