hippopotamus

See also: Hippopotamus

English

A 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”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌhɪ.pə.ˈpɒ.tə.məs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: hip‧po‧po‧ta‧mus

Noun

hippopotamus (plural hippopotamuses or hippopotamusses or hippopotami or hippopotamoi or hippopotamus)

1. A large, semi-aquatic, herbivorous (plant-eating) African mammal (Hippopotamus amphibius).
   • 1887, H. Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure‎^[1]:

     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.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

• pygmy hippopotamus

Related terms

• hippo-
• 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)

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

  Egyptian Arabic: سَيِّد قِشْطه‎ m (sayyed ʾešṭa)

  Tunisian Arabic: ليپوپوتام‎ m (lipuputēm)

• Aragonese: hipopotamo m
• Armenian: գետաձի (hy) (getaji), բեգեմոտ (hy) (begemot) (colloquial)
• Assamese: জলহস্তী (zolohosti)
• Asturian: hipopótamu m
• Ateso: emiria
• Azerbaijani: begemot (az), su atı
• Basque: hipopotamo (eu)
• Beja: iisin
• Belarusian: бегемо́т m (bjehjemót), гіпапата́м m (hipapatám)
• Bengali: জলহস্তী (jôlhôśti)
• Bulgarian: хипопота́м (bg) m (hipopotám), ре́чен кон m (réčen kon), бегемо́т m (begemót) (dated)
• Burmese: ရေမြင်း (my) (re-mrang:)
• Catalan: hipopòtam (ca) 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 (da) c
• Dutch: nijlpaard (nl) n
• Dyula: mali, mɛli
• Egyptian: (ḫꜣb)
• Erzya: леельде f (lejelʹde)
• 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), हिप्पोपोटामस m (hippopoṭāmas), दरियाई (hi) m (dariyāī)
• 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), су сиыры (sw sïırı)
• Khmer: ដំរីទឹក (dɑmrəy tɨk)
• 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
• Lithuanian: hipopotamas (lt) m, begemotas m, upėarklis m
• Macedonian: нилски коњ m (nilski konj)
• Malay: badak air
• Maltese: ippopotamu m
• Manx: cabbylawin m
• Marathi: पाणघोड m (pāṇghoḍ)
• Miya: su ándázhi
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: армаана (armaana), далайн морь (dalain mori), армана (mn) (armana), усны үхэр (usny ükher)

• 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)
• Pashto: د اوبو آس‎
• Persian: اسب آبی‎ (asb-e âbi)
• Polish: hipopotam (pl) m
• Portuguese: hipopótamo (pt) m
• 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 (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: ཆུ་རྟ (chu rta)
• Tigrinya: ጉማረ (gumarä)
• 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)
• Vietnamese: lợn nước, hà mã (vi) (河馬)
• Volapük: hiopot, flumedajevod
• Warji: ndaaje
• Welsh: afonfarch, hipopotamws
• Wolof: léebéer bi
• Xhosa: imvubu 9 or 10
• Yiddish: היפּאָפּאָטאַם‎ m (hipopotam), פֿלוספֿערד‎ n (flusferd)
• Zhuang: hozmaj
• Zulu: ingexe, imvubu (zu) 9 or 10

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/, [hɪpːɔˈpɔt̪ämʊs̠]
• (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

• English: hippopotamus
• Portuguese: 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