hippopotamus

See also: Hippopotamus

English

Hippopotamus

Alternative forms

• hippopotamos (archaic), hippotamus (obsolete)

Etymology

From Latin and New Latin hippopotamus, from Ancient Greek ἱπποπόταμος (hippopótamos), from ἵππος (híppos, “horse”) (English hippo-) + ποταμός (potamós, “river”). Displaced nicker, from Old English nicor.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌhɪp.əˈpɒt.ə.məs/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌhɪp.əˈpɑ.tə.məs/, [ˌhɪp.əˈpɑ.ɾə.məs]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Philippines) IPA^(key): /hɪ.poˈpo.ta.mʊs/, /hɪ.po.poˈta.mʊs/
• (Ghana) IPA^(key): /ˌhi.po̞.po̞ˈte̞ː.mo̞s/
• (Nigeria) IPA^(key): /ˌhi.poˈpo.te.mɔs/
• Hyphenation: hip‧po‧po‧ta‧mus

Noun

hippopotamus (plural hippopotami or hippopotamuses or hippopotamus)

1. A large, semi-aquatic, herbivorous (plant-eating) African mammal (Hippopotamus amphibius; common hippopotamus).

   Synonyms: hippo, river horse

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     These were the first hippopotami that we had ever seen, and, to judge by their insatiable curiosity, I should judge that we were the first white men that they had ever seen.

2. Any similar animal of the family Hippopotamidae.

Derived terms

• common hippopotamus
• dependapotamus
• hippo
• Hippopotamus Defence
• hippopotamuslike
• pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis)
• woolly hippopotamus

 

Related terms

• hippo-
• Mesopotamia
• potamic

 

Translations

large African mammal

• Afrikaans: seekoei (af)
• Albanian: kali i Nilit m, hipopotam (sq) m, hippopotamus (sq) m
• Amharic: ጉማሬ (gumare)
• Arabic: فَرَس نَهْر m (faras nahr)

  Egyptian Arabic: سَيِّد قِشْطه m (sayyed ʔešṭa)

  Hijazi Arabic: فَرَس النَّهْر m (faras an-nahar)

  South Levantine Arabic: فرس النهر m (faras in-náher)

  Tunisian Arabic: ليپوپوتام m (lipuputēm)

• Aragonese: hipopotamo m
• Armenian: գետաձի (hy) (getaji), բեգեմոտ (hy) (begemot) (colloquial)
• Assamese: জলহস্তী (zolohosti)
• Asturian: hipopótamu (ast) m
• Ateso: emiria
• Azerbaijani: begemot (az), su atı
• Basque: hipopotamo (eu)
• Beja: iisin
• Belarusian: бегемо́т m (bjehjemót), гіпапата́м m (hipapatám)
• Bengali: জলহস্তী (bn) (jolohosti)
• Bulgarian: хипопота́м (bg) m (hipopotám), ре́чен кон m (réčen kon), бегемо́т m (begemót) (dated)
• Burmese: ရေမြင်း (my) (re-mrang:)
• Catalan: hipopòtam (ca) m
• Cerma: yoŋo
• Chichewa: mvuu
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 河馬／河马 (ho⁴ maa⁵)

  Hakka: 河馬／河马 (hò-mâ)

  Hokkien: 河馬／河马 (zh-min-nan) (hô-bé)

  Mandarin: 河馬／河马 (zh) (hémǎ)

• Chuvash: бегемот (begemot)
• Cornish: dowrvargh m
• Crimean Tatar: suv ayğırı
• Czech: hroch (cs) m
• Danish: flodhest (da) c
• Dutch: nijlpaard (nl) n
• Dyula: mali, mɛli
• Egyptian: (ḫꜣb)
• Erzya: леельде f (ľejeľďe)
• Esperanto: hipopotamo (eo)
• Estonian: jõehobu (et)
• Faroese: áarross n
• Finnish: virtahepo (fi)
• French: hippopotame (fr) m, hippo (fr) m, cheval marin (fr) m
• Galician: hipopótamo m
• Georgian: ჰიპოპოტამი (hiṗoṗoṭami), ბეჰემოთი (behemoti)
• German: Flusspferd (de) n, Nilpferd (de) n
• Greek: ιπποπόταμος (el) m (ippopótamos)

  Ancient: ἱπποπόταμος m (hippopótamos), ἵππος ποτάμιος m (híppos potámios)

• Greenlandic: imermiutarsuaq (kl)
• Hausa: dṑrinā f
• Hebrew: הִיפּוֹפּוֹטָם (he) m (hipopotám), בְּהֵמוֹת (he) m (b'hemót), סוּס יְאוֹר m (sus y'ór)
• Hindi: दरियाई घोड़ा m (dariyāī ghoṛā), जलीय घोड़ा m (jalīya ghoṛā), जलहस्ती (hi) m (jalhastī)
• Hungarian: víziló (hu)
• Icelandic: flóðhestur (is) m
• Indonesian: kuda nil
• Ingrian: begemootta
• Irish: dobhareach m
• Italian: ippopotamo (it) m
• Japanese: 河馬 (ja) (かば, kaba), カバ (ja) (kaba)
• Kalmyk: усна үкр (usna ükr)
• Karang: naymbih
• Kazakh: бегемот (begemot), сусиыр (susiyr), су сиыры (su siyry)
• Khmer: ដំរីទឹក (dɑmrəy tɨk)
• Kituba: nguvu
• Kongo: nguvu
• Korean: 하마(河馬) (ko) (hama)
• Kumyk: суват (suwat)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: hespê avê (ku)

• Kyrgyz: бегемот (begemot), гиппопотам (ky) (gippopotam)
• Lao: ຊ້າງນ້ຳ (sāng nam)
• Latin: hippopotamus m
• Latvian: nīlzirgs, hipopotams, behemots m
• Lingala: ngubu
• Lithuanian: hipopotamas (lt) m, begemotas m, upėarklis m
• Macedonian: нилски коњ m (nilski konj)
• Malay: badak air
• Malayalam: നീർക്കുതിര (ml) (nīṟkkutira), ഹിപ്പോപ്പൊട്ടാമസ് (ml) (hippōppoṭṭāmasŭ)
• Maltese: ippopotamu m
• Manx: cabbylawin m
• Marathi: पाणघोड m (pāṇghoḍ)
• Miya: su ándázhi
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: усны үхэр (usny üxer), армана (mn) (armana), армаана (armaana), усан тахь (usan taxʹ) (China)

  Mongolian: ᠤᠰᠤᠨ ᠦ
  ᠦᠬᠡᠷ (usun-ü üker), ᠠᠷᠠᠮᠠᠨ᠎ᠠ (araman-a), ᠤᠰᠤᠨ
  ᠲᠠᠬᠢ (usun taki)

• Nandi: makas
• Navajo: tééhoołtsódii
• Nogai: зил (zil)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: flodhest m

  Nynorsk: flodhest m

• Occitan: ipopotam (oc) m
• Ojibwe: gchi-bgwaji-gookoosh anim
• Old English: nicor m
• Ossetian: бегемот (begemot)
• Ottoman Turkish: صو آیغری (su ayğırı), آت بالغی (at balığı), هیپوپوتام (hipopotam)
• Pashto: د اوبو آس
• Persian: اسب آبی (asb-e âbi)
• Polish: hipopotam (pl) m
• Portuguese: hipopótamo (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਦਰਿਆਈ ਘੋੜਾ m (dariāī ghoṛā)
• Romani: hipopotàmo
• Romanian: hipopotam (ro) m
• Russian: гиппопота́м (ru) m (gippopotám), бегемо́т (ru) m (begemót)
• Salar: su at
• Sambe: tòbárì
• Sanskrit: करियाद m (kariyāda)
• Scottish Gaelic: each-aibhne m, capall-abhainn m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: поводни коњ m, нилски коњ m

  Roman: povodni konj m, nilski konj m

• Sinhalese: හිපපොටේමස් (hipapoṭēmas)
• Slovak: hroch (sk) m
• Slovene: povodni konj (sl) m, nilski konj m
• Somali: jeer (so)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wódny kóń m

• Sotho: kubu (st)
• Spanish: hipopótamo (es) m
• Supyire: kòòntìrìŋè
• Swahili: kiboko (sw)
• Swedish: flodhäst (sv) c
• Tagalog: ipopotamo
• Tajik: баҳмут (tg) (bahmut), аспи обӣ (asp-i obi)
• Tamil: நீரானை (nīrāṉai)
• Tatar: гиппопотам (gippopotam), (male) су үгезе (su ügeze), (female) су сыеры (su sıyerı)
• Thai: ฮิปโปโปเตมัส (th) (híp-bpoo-bpoo-dtee-más)
• Tibetan: ཆུ་རྟ (chu rta)
• Tigrinya: ጉማረ (gumarä)
• Tooro: enjubu class 9, ensere class 9
• Tsonga: mpfuvu
• Turkana: epiri
• Turkish: su aygırı (tr), hipopotam (tr)
• Turkmen: gippopotam, suw aty, begemot (tk)
• Ukrainian: гіпопота́м m (hipopotám), бегемо́т (uk) m (behemót)
• Urdu: دریائی گھوڑا m (dariyā'ī ghoṛā)
• Uyghur: سۇ ئېتى (su ëti), بېگېموت (bëgëmot)
• Uzbek: begemot (uz), suv oti, gippopotam (uz)
• Venda: mvuvhu
• Vietnamese: lợn nước, hà mã (vi) (河馬)
• Volapük: hiopot, flumedajevod
• Warji: ndaaje
• Welsh: afonfarch, hipopotamws
• Wolof: léebéer bi
• Xhosa: imvubu class 9/10
• Yiddish: היפּאָפּאָטאַם m (hipopotam)
• Zhuang: hozmaj
• Zulu: ingexe, imvubu (zu) class 9/10

See also

Similar-looking but unrelated terms, not to be confused with the above

• hypotenuse
• hypothalamus

 

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἱπποπόταμος (hippopótamos), from ἵππος (híppos, “horse”) + ποταμός (potamós, “river”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /hip.poˈpo.ta.mus/, [hɪpːɔˈpɔt̪ämʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ip.poˈpo.ta.mus/, [ipːoˈpɔːt̪ämus]

Noun

hippopotamus m (genitive hippopotamī); second declension

1. a hippopotamus

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	hippopotamus	hippopotamī
Genitive	hippopotamī	hippopotamōrum
Dative	hippopotamō	hippopotamīs
Accusative	hippopotamum	hippopotamōs
Ablative	hippopotamō	hippopotamīs
Vocative	hippopotame	hippopotamī

Descendants

• Asturian: hipopótamu
• Catalan: hipopòtam
• English: hippopotamus
• French: hippopotame
• Italian: ippopotamo
• Leonese: hipopótamu
• Occitan: ipopotam
• Portuguese: hipopótamo
• Romanian: hipopotam
• Spanish: hipopótamo

References

• “hippopotamus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• hippopotamus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.