hippopotamus
See also: Hippopotamus
English
[edit]
Alternative forms
[edit]- hippopotamos (archaic), hippotamus (obsolete)
Etymology
[edit]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
[edit]- (UK) IPA(key): /ˌhɪp.əˈpɒt.ə.məs/
- (US, Canada) IPA(key): /ˌhɪp.əˈpɑ.tə.məs/, [ˌhɪp.əˈpɑ.ɾə.məs]
- (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
[edit]hippopotamus (plural hippopotami or hippopotamuses or hippopotamus)
- 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.
- Any similar animal of the family Hippopotamidae.
Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]large African mammal
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See also
[edit]Similar-looking but unrelated terms, not to be confused with the above
Latin
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Ancient Greek ἱπποπόταμος (hippopótamos), from ἵππος (híppos, “horse”) + ποταμός (potamós, “river”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [hɪp.pɔˈpɔ.ta.mʊs]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ip.poˈpɔː.t̪a.mus]
Noun
[edit]hippopotamus m (genitive hippopotamī); second declension
Declension
[edit]Second-declension noun.
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | hippopotamus | hippopotamī |
| genitive | hippopotamī | hippopotamōrum |
| dative | hippopotamō | hippopotamīs |
| accusative | hippopotamum | hippopotamōs |
| ablative | hippopotamō | hippopotamīs |
| vocative | hippopotame | hippopotamī |
Descendants
[edit]- Asturian: hipopótamu
- Catalan: hipopòtam
- → English: hippopotamus
- French: hippopotame
- Italian: ippopotamo
- Leonese: hipopótamu
- Occitan: ipopotam
- Portuguese: hipopótamo
- Romanian: hipopotam
- Spanish: hipopótamo
References
[edit]- “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.
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *peth₂-
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₁eḱ-
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from New Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 5-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English nouns with irregular plurals
- English indeclinable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English terms prefixed with hippo-
- en:Even-toed ungulates
- Latin terms derived from Ancient Greek
- Latin terms with IPA pronunciation
- Latin lemmas
- Latin nouns
- Latin second declension nouns
- Latin masculine nouns in the second declension
- Latin masculine nouns
- la:Even-toed ungulates