elephant

See also: Elephant, éléphant, and êléphant

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 Afro-Asiatic form such as Proto-Berber *eḷu (“elephant”) (compare Tahaggart 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
  • IPA(key): /ˈɛləfənt/, /ˈɛlɪfənt/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio(file)
an elephant

Noun

elephant (countable and uncountable, plural elephants)

  1. A mammal of the order Proboscidea, having a trunk, and two large ivory tusks jutting from the upper jaw.
  2. (figuratively) Anything huge and ponderous.
  3. (paper, printing) A printing-paper size measuring 30 × 22 inches.
  4. (Britain, 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...
  5. (uncountable, obsolete) Ivory.
    • John Dryden's translation of Virgil's Aeneid
      He sent rich gifts of elephant and gold.

Synonyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms
Terms derived from the noun elephant

Descendants
  • → Welsh: eliffant
  • → Hawaiian: 'elepani
  • → Maori: arewhana
Terms related to the noun elephant

Translations

Further reading

Middle French

Noun

elephant m (plural elephans)

  1. elephant (animal)

Descendants
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