elephant
English
Etymology
From Middle English elefant, elefaunt, from Old French elefant, elefan, olifant, re-latinized in Middle French as elephant, from Latin elephantus, from Ancient Greek ἐλέφᾱς (eléphās) (gen. ἐλέφαντος (eléphantos)). Believed to be derived from an Afroasiatic form such as Proto-Berber *eḷu (“elephant”) (compare Tamahaq êlu, Tamasheq alu) or Egyptian ꜣbw (“elephant; ivory”). More at ivory. Replaced Middle English olifant (from the aforementioned Old French form, from Vulgar Latin *olifantus), which replaced Old English elpend (“elephant”).
Pronunciation
Noun
elephant (countable and uncountable, plural elephants)
- A large mammal of the family Elephantidae in the order Proboscidea, having a trunk, and native to Africa and Asia.
- (figurative) Anything huge and ponderous.
- (paper, printing) Synonym of elephant paper.
- (British, childish) used when counting to add length, so that each count takes about one second
Let's play hide and seek. I'll count. One elephant, two elephant, three elephant...
- (uncountable, obsolete) Ivory.
1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:He sent rich gifts of elephant and gold.
- (xiangqi) A xiangqi piece that is moved two points diagonally, may not jump over intervening pieces and may not cross the river.
Synonyms
- (any of family Elephantidae): elephantid
- (counting term): see Appendix:Words used as placeholders to count seconds
Hyponyms
Derived terms
- African bush elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis)
- African elephant (Loxodonta spp.)
- African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis)
- African savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana)
- Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)
- Asiatic elephant (Elephas maximus)
- baby elephant in the room
- Borneo elephant (Elephas maximus borneensis)
- bull elephant
- cow elephant
- double elephant
- dwarf elephant
- eat an elephant one bite at a time
- Elephant and Castle
- elephant apple
- elephantback
- elephant bed
- elephant beetle (Megasoma elephas, Curculionoidea spp.)
- elephant bird, elephantbird (†Aepyornithidae)
- elephant bug (Curculionoidea spp.)
- elephant bush
- elephant calf
- elephant chess
- elephant-color, elephant-colour
- elephant cord
- elephant creeper (Argyreia nervosa)
- elephantdom
- elephant dose
- elephant ear, elephant ears
- elephant-ear tree
- elephantesque
- elephantess
- elephantfish, elephant fish
- elephant flipping
- elephant folio
- elephant foot (Beaucarnea recurvata, Testudinaria elephantipes etc)
- Elephant Gambit
- elephant garlic (Allium ampeloprasum var. ampeloprasum)
- elephant grass
- elephant-gravel
- elephant-gray, elephant-grey
- elephant gun
- Elephant Hall
- elephant hawk moth (Deilephila elpenor)
- elephanthood
- elephanticide
- elephantid
- elephant in Cairo
- elephant in the corner
- elephant in the kitchen
- elephant in the living room
- elephant in the room
- Elephant Island
- elephantitis
- elephant joke
- elephant juice
- elephant leg
- elephantlike
- elephant louse (Haematomyzus elephantis)
- Elephant Man
- elephant man's disease
- elephant man's syndrome
- elephant on the dinner table
- elephantophile
- elephant paper
- elephant-path
- elephant pearl
- elephant polo
- elephant race
- elephant-rain
- elephantry
- elephant's breath
- elephant seal (Mirounga spp.)
- elephant's ear
- elephant's ear, elephant's ears
- Elephant's Foot
- elephant's foot
- elephant's foot umbrella stand
- elephant's-grass
- elephants' graveyard
- elephant shark (Callorhinchidae)
- elephant's head (Pedicularis groenlandica)
- elephantship
- elephant shrew (Macroscelididae)
- elephant skin
- elephant snout (Mormyrus hasselquistii)
- elephant's snout volute
- elephant's teeth
- elephant's tooth
- elephant's toothpaste
- elephant's trunk, elephant trunk (Pachypodium namaquanum or Agave attenuata)
- Elephant's Trunk Nebula
- elephant's trunk plant (Pachypodium namaquanum)
- elephant's tusk
- elephant's-tusks
- elephant's-vine (Fockea multiflora)
- elephant test
- elephant thorn (Acacia tomentosa)
- elephant toothpaste
- elephant tortoise (Testudo gigantea or Testudo elaphantopus)
- elephant trank
- elephant tranquilizer
- elephant trap
- elephant tree (Bursera microphylla)
- elephant-trumpet
- elephant trunkfish (Holothuria fuscopunctata)
- elephant trunk fish (Macrognathus aculeatus)
- Elephant Trunk nebula
- elephant trunk snake (Acrochordus javanicus)
- elephant-tusk (Proboscidea louisianica)
- elephant walk
- elephanty
- elephant yam (Amorphophallus konjac or Amorphophallus paeoniifolius)
- Flying Elephant
- forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis)
- get a look at the elephant
- he-elephant
- imperial elephant
- Indian elephant (Elephas maximus)
- irrelephant
- mammophant
- mimophant
- Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant
- North African elephant (†Loxodonta africana pharaoensis)
- Order of the Elephant
- pad elephant
- pink elephant
- pink elephants
- pseudelephant
- pygmy elephant (Elephas maximus borneensis)
- retail elephant
- rogue elephant
- savanna elephant, savannah elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis)
- sea-elephant
- Sea Elephant
- sea elephant (Mirounga)
- see the elephant
- she-elephant
- shoot an elephant with a BB gun
- show the elephant
- Sri Lankan elephant (Elephas maximus maximus)
- straight-tusked elephant (†Palaeoloxodon antiquus)
- Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus)
- temple elephant
- war elephant
- water elephant
- were-elephant
- white elephant
Descendants
Translations
mammal
- Abkhaz: аслан (aslan)
- Acehnese: gajah
- Afar: dakanu
- Afrikaans: olifant (af)
- Ahom: 𑜋𑜂𑜫 (chaṅ)
- Akan: ɛsono
- Akkadian: 𒄠𒋛 m or f (pīrum)
- Albanian: elefant (sq)
- Altai:
- Southern Altai: јаан (ǰaan)
- Amharic: ዝሆን (zəhon)
- Amis: eco
- Arabic: فِيل (ar) m (fīl)
- Chadian Arabic: فيل m (fīl)
- Egyptian Arabic: فيل m (fīl)
- Aragonese: alifante m
- Aramaic:
- Classical Syriac: ܦܝܠܐ m (pīlā’), ܦܝܠܬܐ f (pīltā’)
- Hebrew script: פילא m (pīlā’), פילתא f (pīltā’)
- Armenian: փիղ (hy) (pʻiġ)
- Assamese: হাতী (hati)
- Asturian: elefante (ast) m
- Ateso: etome
- Avar: пил (pil)
- Azerbaijani: fil (az)
- Babungo: nsee
- Bajau:
- West Coast Bajau: datu', gaja
- Banjarese: gajah
- Bashkir: фил (fil)
- Basque: elefante (eu)
- Batak:
- Toba Batak: ᯎᯐ (gaja)
- Batek: gawoy, gagok
- Belarusian: слон m (slon), слані́ха f (slaníxa)
- Bemba: nsofu
- Bengali: হাতি (bn) (hati)
- Besisi: mberat
- Bezhta: пил (pil)
- Bidayuh:
- Bau Bidayuh: gajah
- Bikol:
- Central Bikol: gadya (bcl)
- Blackfoot: innóóhksisii
- Breton: olifant (br) m
- Bulgarian: слон (bg) m (slon)
- Burmese: ဆင် (my) (hcang)
- Buryat: заан (zaan)
- Carpathian Rusyn: слон m (slon)
- Catalan: elefant (ca) m
- Old Catalan: orifany m, aurifany m, olifany m
- Cerma: gbɛ̃lŋo
- Chakma: please add this translation if you can
- Cham:
- Eastern Cham: ꨤꨪꨟꨲꩆ
- Western Cham: ليمان limân
- Chechen: пийл (piı̇l)
- Cherokee: ᎧᎹᎹ (kamama), ᎧᎹᎹ ᎤᏔᎾ (kamama utana)
- Chewong: itung
- Cheyenne: tsėhe'ėseeséhe
- Chichewa: njovu class 9
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 象 (zoeng6), 大象 (daai6 zoeng6), 大笨象 (daai6 ban6 zoeng6)
- Dungan: щён (xi͡on)
- Eastern Min: 象 (chiông)
- Gan: 象 (xiong5)
- Hakka: 象 (siong)
- Hokkien: 象 (zh-min-nan) (chhiūⁿ / chhiǔⁿ / chhiōⁿ / chhiāuⁿ / siōng / sióng / siǒng / chhiāng)
- Jin: 象 (xion3)
- Mandarin: 象 (zh) (xiàng), 大象 (zh) (dàxiàng)
- Northern Min: 象 (siōng)
- Wu: 象
- Xiang: 象 (sian4)
- Chol: elefanti
- Chukchi: эʼԓыпын (ėʼḷypyn)
- Chuvash: слон (slon), сӑлан (sălan)
- Circassian:
- West Circassian: пыл (pəl)
- Comorian:
- Ngazidja Comorian: nɗovu class 9/10
- Cornish: olifans m
- Crimean Tatar: fil
- Czech: slon (cs) m, slonice (cs) f
- Dagbani: wobgu, wɔbigu
- Danish: elefant (da) c
- Defaka: ɓɪla
- Dhivehi: އެތް (et̊)
- Dinka: akɔ̈ɔ̈n
- Duala: njo̠u class 9
- Dusun:
- Central Dusun: godingon, godingan
- Dutch: olifant (nl) m, elpendier n, elp (nl) m
- Egyptian: (ꜣbw)
- Ekpeye: enyî
- Esperanto: elefanto (eo)
- Estonian: elevant (et)
- Faroese: fílur (fo) m
- Fijian: elevaniti, elefadi
- Finnish: norsu (fi), elefantti (fi)
- French: éléphant (fr) m, éléphante (fr) f, éléphanteau (fr) m, (rare) éléphantelle (fr) f
- Middle French: elephant m
- Old French: olifan m
- Frisian:
- West Frisian: oaljefant c
- Friulian: elefant m
- Gagauz: fillär, fil
- Galician: elefante (gl) m
- Georgian: სპილო (sṗilo)
- German: Elefant (de) m, Elefantenbulle (de) m, Elefantin (de) f, Elefantenkuh (de) f, Elefantenkalb (de) n
- Alemannic German: Elifant m
- Greek: ελέφαντας (el) m (eléfantas)
- Ancient Greek: ἐλέφας (eléphas)
- Greenlandic: nagguaatsoq
- Guarani:
- Paraguayan Guarani: (please verify) tapi'itĩmbuku
- Gujarati: હાથી (gu) m (hāthī)
- Gwere: nzogi
- Haitian Creole: elefan
- Hausa: giwa f
- Hawaiian: ʻelepani
- Hebrew: פִּיל (he) m (pil)
- Hindi: हाथी (hi) m (hāthī), हस्ती (hi) m (hastī), गज (hi) m (gaj), पील (hi) m (pīl)
- Hmong:
- White Hmong: ntxhw
- Hungarian: elefánt (hu)
- Ibani: bɪla
- Ibibio: eniin
- Icelandic: fíll (is) m
- Ida'an: liman
- Ido: elefanto (io)
- Ilocano: gadia
- Indonesian: gajah (id)
- Ingush: пилла (pilla)
- Interlingua: elephante
- Irish: eilifint f
- Isan: ซ่าง
- Italian: elefante (it) m
- Japanese: 象 (ja) (ぞう, zou), ゾウ (ja) (zou)
- Jarai: rơman
- Jarawa: ʈʰehuːʈʰu
- Javanese: ꦒꦗꦃ (gajah), ꦭꦶꦩꦤ꧀ (liman) (krama), ꦢ꧀ꦮꦶꦥꦁꦒ (dwipangga), ꦢ꧀ꦮꦶꦫꦢ (dwirada), ꦧ꧀ꦭꦼꦢꦸꦒ꧀ (jv) (bledug) (young)
- Jehai: antok
- Jeju: 코끼리 (kokkiri), 퀘끼리 (kwekkiri)
- Jingpho: magwi (spelling in Myanmar), magui (spelling in China)
- Kalenjin: ebelio
- Kalmyk: зан (zan)
- Kamba: nzou
- Kambaata: danichcho
- Kannada: ಆನೆ (kn) (āne), ಗಜ (kn) (gaja)
- Kapampangan: elipanti, gaddia
- Karang: mbali
- Kashmiri: ہۆس (ks) m (hos), ہۆست (ks) m (host), ۂسؠ تِنؠ (ks) f (hạs'tin')
- Kashubian: słóń m
- Kazakh: піл (pıl)
- Kenaboi: gĕntúl, bĕrat
- Khasi: hati
- Khmer: ដំរី (km) (dɑmrəy)
- Khoekhoe: ǂkhoab
- Kikuyu: njogu class 9/10
- Kituba: nzau
- Komi:
- Komi-Permyak: слӧн (slön)
- Kongo: nzau
- Korean: 코끼리 (ko) (kokkiri)
- Kristang: alfanti
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: فیل (ckb) (fîl)
- Northern Kurdish: fîl (ku)
- Kwama: kwɨ
- Kyrgyz: пил (ky) (pil)
- Ladin: elefant
- Ladino: איליפ׳אנטי (elefante)
- Lao: ຊ້າງ (lo) (sāng)
- Latin: elephantus (la), elephas (la), barrus m, Lūca bōs m or f
- Latvian: zilonis (lv) m
- Lezgi: фил (fil)
- Lingala: nzɔku
- Lithuanian: dramblys (lt) m
- Lü: ᦋᦱᧂᧉ (tsaang²)
- Luhya: enjofu
- Lutuv: ale
- Maasai: olkanchaoi m, olenkaina m, oltome m
- Macedonian: слон m (slon)
- Madurese: ꦓꦙ (ghajha)
- Malagasy: elefanta (mg)
- Malay: gajah (ms), cewe untut, biram (ms), liman (ms)
- Brunei Malay: gajah
- Malayalam: ആന (ml) (āna)
- Maltese: ljunfant
- Manchu: ᠰᡠᡶᠠᠨ (sufan)
- Mandingo:
- Mandinka: samoo
- Marathi: हत्ती m (hattī)
- Marwari: गयंद m (gayand)
- Melanau:
- Central Melanau: gajah
- Mirandese: eilefante m
- Moksha: слан (slan)
- Mon: စိၚ် (mnw)
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: заан (mn) (zaan)
- Mongolian script: ᠵᠠᠭᠠᠨ (ǰaɣan)
- Mukulu: 'elbi
- Murut:
- Tagal Murut: godingan, godingan
- Timugon Murut: gadingan, mangumbus togup
- Mwani: nembo
- Nahuatl: elefante (nah)
- Classical Nahuatl: elepantli
- Navajo: bíchį́į́h yee adilohii
- Nepali: हात्ती (ne) m (hāttī)
- Newar: किसी (kisī)
- Nkonya: srʋfɔ
- Norman: êléphant m
- Northern Dagara: wɔɔ
- Northern Sotho: tlou
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: elefant (no) m
- Nuer: guɔr
- Nupe: dagba
- Occitan: elefant (oc) m
- Odia: ହାତୀ (hāti)
- Ojibwe: jejiibajikii
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Cyrillic: слонь m (slonĭ)
- Old East Slavic: слонъ m (slonŭ)
- Old English: elpend m
- Old Norse: fíll m
- Oromo: arbaa
- Ossetian: пыл (pyl)
- Otomi:
- Mezquital Otomi: elefante
- Pali: hatthin m, nāga m, gaja m
- Pannonian Rusyn: єлефант m (jelefant), слон m (slon)
- Pashto: پيل (ps) m (pil)
- Persian:
- Dari: فِیل (fīl), پِیل (pīl)
- Iranian Persian: فیل (fa) (fil), پیل (fa) (pil), کنجر (kenjar)
- Middle Persian: pyl (pīl)
- Polish: słoń (pl) m anim, słonica (pl) f
- Portuguese: elefante (pt) m, elefanta (pt) f, aliá (pt) f, elefoa (pt) f, alifante (pt) m
- Punjabi: ਹਾਥੀ m (hāthī)
- Rade: êman
- Rohingya: háñti
- Romani: woroslano m, woroslanka f, elefànto m
- Romanian: elefant (ro) m
- Romansh: elefant
- Russian: слон (ru) m (slon), слони́ха (ru) f (sloníxa)
- Rwanda-Rundi: inzovu
- Saek: ซาง
- Saho: dakano
- Sami:
- Northern Sami: elefánta
- Samoan: 'elefane
- Sanskrit: गज (sa) m (gaja), इभ (sa) m (ibha), हस्तिन् (sa) m (hastin), नाग (sa) m (nāga), वारण (sa) m (vāraṇá) (poetic)
- Santali: ᱦᱟᱹᱛᱤ (sat) (hăti)
- Sardinian: elefante ?, elefanti ?
- Scottish Gaelic: ailbhean m
- Semai: cig
- Semelai: kĕgdo, pemalen, (please verify) pemaleng
- Senoufo:
- Supyire: ńtàsùù
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: сло̏н m, сло̀ница f, фил m (regional)
- Latin: slȍn (sh) m, slònica (sh) f, fil (sh) m (regional)
- Shan: ၸၢင်ႉ (shn) (tsâ̰ang)
- Sherpa: གླང་པུ (glang pu)
- Shona: nzou
- Sicilian: liotru (scn) m, lifanti m
- Sidamo: dano
- Sindhi: هاٿيِ (hāthī)
- Sinhalese: අලියා (aliyā)
- Slovak: slon (sk) m
- Slovene: slon (sl) m, slonica (sl) f
- Somali: maroodi (so)
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: elefant m, słon m (literary)
- Upper Sorbian: elefant (hsb) m, słon m
- Sotho: tlou (st)
- Spanish: elefante (es) m
- Old Spanish: alefant m, eleofant m, elifant m
- Sranan Tongo: asaw
- Sumerian: 𒄠𒋛 (amsi)
- Sundanese: ᮌᮏᮂ (gajah)
- Swahili: ndovu (sw), tembo (sw)
- Swazi: indlovu
- Swedish: elefant (sv)
- Sylheti: ꠀꠔ꠆ꠔꠤ (atti)
- Tagalog: elepante (tl), gadya (tl)
- Tai Dam: ꪋ꫁ꪱꪉ
- Tai Nüa: ᥓᥣᥒᥳ (tsȧang)
- Tajik: фил (tg) (fil), пил (pil)
- Tamil: யானை (ta) (yāṉai)
- Tangale: labata
- Tatar: фил (tt) (fil)
- Tày: chạng
- Tedaga: kumon
- Telugu: ఏనుగు (te) (ēnugu), గజము (te) (gajamu)
- Temiar: talam, alul, ateng, alĕĕp, alaay, atũd, orang besar, tangk'el (Ple-Temer)
- Temoq: koleq
- Thai: ช้าง (th) (cháang), คชสาร (th) (kót-chá-sǎan)
- Northern Thai: ᨩ᩶ᩣ᩠ᨦ (cang), ᨩ᩶ᩣ᩠ᨦ
- Tibetan: གླང་ཆེན (glang chen), གླང་པོ (glang po)
- Tidung:
- Southern Tidung: gedingan
- Tigrinya: ሓርማዝ (ti) (ḥarmaz)
- Tocharian B: onkolmo
- Tswana: tlou class 9/10
- Tumbuka: ndlovu
- Turka: gbĩɛ̃lw
- Turkana: etom
- Turkish: fil (tr)
- Ottoman Turkish: فیل (fil), پیل (pil)
- Turkmen: pil
- Tyap: zwuom (kcg)
- Udi: фил (fil)
- Udmurt: слон (slon)
- Uduk: jè
- Ukrainian: слон (uk) m (slon), слони́ха f (slonýxa), слонь m (slonʹ) (archaic)
- Unami: èlëpën
- Urdu: ہاتھی m (hāthī), ہَسْتی m (hastī), گَج m (gaj), فِیل m (fīl), پِیل m (pīl)
- Uyghur: پىل (pil)
- Uzbek: fil (uz)
- Veddah: බොටකඳා (boṭakan̆dā)
- Venda: nḓou
- Vietnamese: voi (vi)
- Vilamovian: elefaont
- Volapük: leefad (vo)
- Welsh: eliffant (cy), cawrfil m
- Wolaytta: danggarssaa
- Wolof: ñey wi, ñay (wo)
- Xhosa: indlovu
- Yaghnobi: фил (fil)
- Yakut: слон (slon)
- Yao (Africa): ndembo class 9
- Yaqui: elehaánte
- Yiddish: העלפֿאַנד m (helfand)
- Yoruba: erin
- Yucatec Maya: chowak jom, elefante
- Zazaki: fil (diq)
- Zhuang: duzciengh, ciengh
- Zulu: indlovu (zu) class 9/10
- ǃXóõ: ǂxūa
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anything huge and ponderous See also
Further reading
Anagrams
Middle French
Noun
elephant m (plural elephans)
- elephant (animal)
Descendants
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