nīlzirgs

Latvian

Nīlzirgs

Etymology

From Nīla (“Nile river”) +‎ zirgs (“horse”), probably a calque of German Nilpferd, itself ultimately a calque (with Nile instead of river) from Ancient Greek ἱπποπόταμος (hippopótamos) (from ἵππος (híppos, “horse”) + ποταμός (potamós, “river”)).

Noun

nīlzirgs m (1st declension)

1. hippopotamus (genus Hippopotamus)

   nīlzirgu bars ― hippopotamus herd

   nīlzirgu dzimtene ir Āfrikas vidiene ― the hippopotamus homeland is the interior of Africa

Declension

Declension of nīlzirgs (1st declension)

	singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative (nominatīvs)	nīlzirgs	nīlzirgi
accusative (akuzatīvs)	nīlzirgu	nīlzirgus
genitive (ģenitīvs)	nīlzirga	nīlzirgu
dative (datīvs)	nīlzirgam	nīlzirgiem
instrumental (instrumentālis)	nīlzirgu	nīlzirgiem
locative (lokatīvs)	nīlzirgā	nīlzirgos
vocative (vokatīvs)	nīlzirg	nīlzirgi

Synonyms

• behemots, begemots
• hipopotams