hippopotamus

See also: Hippopotamus

English

A hippopotamus

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌhɪp.əˈpɒt.ə.məs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: hip‧po‧po‧ta‧mus

Noun

hippopotamus (plural hippopotamuses or hippopotami or hippopotamus)

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

Synonyms

• (semi-aquatic mammal): hippo, river horse

Derived terms

• pygmy hippopotamus

Related terms

• hippo-
• potamic

Translations

large African mammal

• Afrikaans: seekoei
• Albanian: kali i Nilit m, hipopotam (sq) m, hippopotamus (sq) m
• Arabic: فَرَس اَلنَّهْر‎ m (faras an-nahr)

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

• Armenian: գետաձի (hy) (getaji)
• Asturian: hipopótamu m
• Azeri: begemot (az)
• Basque: hipopotamo (eu)
• Belarusian: бегемо́т m (bjehjemót), гіпапата́м m (hipapatám)
• Bengali: জলহস্তী (jôlhôsti)
• Bulgarian: хипопота́м (bg) m (hipopotám)
• Burmese: ရေမြင်း (my) (re-mrang:)
• Catalan: hipopòtam m
• Chichewa: mvuu
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 河馬, 河马 (ho⁴ maa⁵)

  Hakka: 河馬, 河马 (hò-mâ)

  Mandarin: 河馬 (zh), 河马 (zh) (hémǎ)

  Min Nan: 河馬 (zh-min-nan), 河马 (hô-bé)

• Chuvash: бегемот (begemot)
• Cornish: dowrvargh m
• Crimean Tatar: suv ayğırı
• Czech: hroch (cs) m
• Danish: flodhest c
• Dutch: nijlpaard (nl) n
• Egyptian: ḫꜣb

• Erzya: леельде f (lejelʹde)
• Esperanto: hipopotamo
• Estonian: jõehobu (et)
• Faroese: áarross n
• Finnish: virtahepo (fi)
• French: hippopotame (fr) m
• Galician: hipopótamo m
• Georgian: ჰიპოპოტამი (hiṗoṗoṭami)
• German: Flusspferd (de) n, Flusspferdmännchen n, Flusspferdweibchen n, Nilpferd (de) n, Nilpferdmännchen n, Nilpferdweibchen n,
• Greek: ιπποπόταμος (el) m (ippopótamos)
• 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)
• Hungarian: víziló (hu)
• Icelandic: flóðhestur (is) m
• Indonesian: kuda nil
• Irish: dobhareach m
• Italian: ippopotamo (it) m
• Japanese: 河馬 (ja) (かば, kaba), カバ (ja) (kaba)
• Kalmyk: усна үкр (usna ükr)
• Kazakh: бегемот (begemot), сусиыр (swsïır)
• Khmer: ដំរីទឹក (dɑmrəy tɨk)
• Korean: 하마 (ko) (hama) (河馬 (ko))
• Kyrgyz: бегемот (begemot)

• Lao: ຊ້າງນ້ຳ (sāng nam)
• Latin: hippopotamus m
• Latvian: nīlzirgs, hipopotams, begemots~behemots
• Lithuanian: hipopotamas (lt) m, begemotas m, upėarklis m
• Macedonian: ни́лски коњ m (nílski konj)
• Malay: badak air
• Manx: cabbylawin m
• Marathi: पाणघोड m (pāṇghoḍ)
• Mongolian: армаана (armaana)
• Navajo: tééhoołtsódii
• Nogai: зил (zil)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: flodhest m

  Nynorsk: flodhest m

• Occitan: ipopotam (oc) m
• Old English nicor m
• Ossetian: бегемот (begemot)
• Persian: اسب آبی‎ (asb-e âbi)
• Polish: hipopotam (pl) m
• Portuguese: hipopótamo (pt) m
• Romanian: hipopotam (ro) m
• Russian: гиппопота́м (ru) m (gippopotám), бегемо́т (ru) m (begemót)
• 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 m
• Slovene: povodni konj (sl) m, nilski konj m
• Somali: jeer (so)
• Sotho: kubu (st)
• Spanish: hipopótamo (es) m
• Swahili: kiboko (sw)
• Swedish: flodhäst (sv) c
• Tagalog: ipopotamo
• Tajik: баҳмут (tg) (bahmut), аспи обӣ (aspi obī)
• 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: མཚོ་ཕག (mtsho phag)
• Turkish: su aygırı (tr)
• Turkmen: gippopotam
• Ukrainian: гіпопота́м m (hipopotám), бегемо́т (uk) m (behemót)
• Urdu: دریائی گھوڑا‎ m (dariyā'ī ghoṛā)
• Uzbek: begemot (uz), hippopotamuses
• Vietnamese: lợn nước, hà mã (vi) (河馬)
• Volapük: hiopot, flumedajevod
• Welsh: afonfarch, hipopotamws
• Wolof: léebéer bi
• Zulu: ingexe

Synonyms

• (a large, herbivorous African mammal): hippo, river horse

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Latin

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /hip.poˈpo.ta.mus/, [hɪp.pɔˈpɔ.ta.mʊs]

Noun

hippopotamus m (genitive hippopotamī); second declension

1. a hippopotamus

Inflection

Second declension.

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	hippopotamus	hippopotamī
genitive	hippopotamī	hippopotamōrum
dative	hippopotamō	hippopotamīs
accusative	hippopotamum	hippopotamōs
ablative	hippopotamō	hippopotamīs
vocative	hippopotame	hippopotamī

Descendants

• English: hippopotamus

References

• hippopotamus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “hippopotamus” in Félix Gaffiot’s Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette (1934)