elephant

See also: Elephant, éléphant, and êléphant

English

Etymology

African elephant

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

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɛlɪf(ə)nt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɛləfənt/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• (Philippines) IPA^(key): /el.e.fant/
• Hyphenation: ele‧phant

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. (in particular) Any member of the subfamily Elephantinae not also of the genera Mammuthus and Primelephas.
3. (figuratively) Anything huge and ponderous.
4. (paper, printing) Synonym of elephant paper
5. (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...

6. (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.

7. (xiangqi) A xiangqi piece that is moved two points diagonally, may not jump over intervening pieces and may not cross the river.

Synonyms

• (animal): Elephas maximus, Loxodonta africana
• (counting term): see Appendix:Words used as placeholders to count seconds

Hyponyms

• (animal): African bush elephant, African forest elephant, Indian elephant, African elephant

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
• elephant bed
• elephant beetle (Megasoma elephas, Curculionoidea spp.)
• elephant bird, elephantbird (†Aepyornithidae)
• elephant bug (Curculionoidea spp.)
• elephant bush
• elephant chess
• elephant-color, elephant-colour
• elephant cord
• elephant creeper (Argyreia nervosa)
• elephant dose
• elephant ear, elephant ears
• elephant-ear tree
• 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)
• 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
• elephant louse (Haematomyzus elephantis)
• Elephant Man
• elephant man's disease
• elephant man's syndrome
• elephant on the dinner table
• 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 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 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
• 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)
• 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 (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

 

Related terms

• chryselephantine
• elephancy
• elephanta
• elephanter
• elephantiac
• elephantiasis
• elephantic
• Elephantidae
• elephantine
• elephantoid
• Elephantopus
• Elephas

 

Descendants

• → Hawaiian: ʻelepani
• → Maori: arewhana
• → Tokelauan: elefane
• → Tongan: ʻelefanite
• → Welsh: eliffant

Translations

mammal

• Abkhaz: аслан (aslan)
• Acehnese: gajah
• Adyghe: пыл (pəl)
• Afar: dakanu
• Afrikaans: olifant (af)
• Ahom: 𑜋𑜂𑜫 (chaṅ)
• Akan: ɛsono
• Akkadian: 𒄠𒋛 m or f (pīrum)
• Albanian: elefant (sq)
• Amharic: ዝሆን (zəhon)
• Amis: eco
• Arabic: فِيل (ar) m (fīl)

  Egyptian Arabic: فيل m (fīl)

• Aragonese: alifante m
• Aramaic:

  Hebrew: פילא m (pīlā’), פילתא f (pīltā’)

  Syriac: ܦܝܠܐ m (pīlā’), ܦܝܠܬܐ f (pīltā’)

• Armenian: փիղ (hy) (pʻiġ)
• Assamese: হাতী (hati)
• Asturian: elefante (ast) m
• Ateso: etome
• Avar: пил (pil)
• Azerbaijani: fil (az)
• Banjarese: gajah
• Bashkir: фил (fil)
• Basque: elefante (eu)
• Batek: gawoy, gagok
• Bau Bidayuh: gajah
• Belarusian: слон m (slon), слані́ха f (slaníxa)
• Bemba: nsofu
• Bengali: হাতি (bn) (hati)
• Besisi: mberat
• Bezhta: пил (pil)
• Bikol Central: gadya (bcl)
• Blackfoot: innóóhksisii
• Breton: olifant (br) m
• Brunei Malay: gajah
• 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

• Central Melanau: gajah
• Cerma: gbɛ̃lŋo
• Chakma: please add this translation if you can
• Chechen: пийл (piı̇l)
• Cheq Wong: itung
• Cherokee: ᎧᎹᎹ (kamama), ᎧᎹᎹ ᎤᏔᎾ (kamama utana)
• Cheyenne: tsėhe'ėseeséhe
• Chichewa: njovu
• 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 (⁶zhian)

  Xiang: 象 (sian⁴)

• Chol: elefanti
• Chukchi: эʼԓыпын (ėʼḷypyn)
• Chuvash: слон (slon), сӑлан (sălan)
• Classical Nahuatl: elepantli
• 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: akoon
• Dutch: olifant (nl) m, elpendier n, elp (nl) m
• Eastern Cham: ꨤꨪꨟꨲꩆ
• Egyptian: (ꜣbw)
• Ekpeye: enyî
• Esperanto: elefanto (eo)
• Estonian: elevant (et)
• Faroese: fílur (fo) m
• Fijian: elefani
• 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

• 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: ἐλέφας (eléphas)

• Greenlandic: nagguaatsoq
• Guaraní: tapi'itĩmbuku
• Gujarati: હાથી (gu) m (hāthī)
• Gwere: nzogi
• 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)
• 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
• Jingpho: magwi (spelling in Myanmar), magui (spelling in China)
• Kadazan: godingon, godingan
• 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-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
• 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)
• Malayalam: ആന (ml) (āna)
• Maltese: ljunfant
• Manchu: ᠰᡠᡶᠠᠨ (sufan)
• Mandinka: samoo
• Marathi: हत्ती m (hattī)
• Mezquital Otomi: elefante
• Mirandese: eilefante m
• Moksha: слан (slan)
• Mon: စိၚ် (mnw)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: заан (mn) (zaan)

  Mongolian: ᠵᠠᠭᠠᠨ (ǰaɣan)

• Mukulu: 'elbi
• Mwani: nembo
• Nahuatl: elefante (nah)
• Navajo: bíchį́į́h yee adilohii
• Nepali: हात्ती (ne) m (hāttī)
• Newar: किसी (kisī)
• Ngazidja Comorian: nɗovu class 9/10
• Nkonya: srʋfɔ
• Norman: êléphant m
• Northern Sami: elefánta
• Northern Sotho: tlou
• Northern Thai: ᨩ᩶ᩣ᩠ᨦ (cang), ᨩ᩶ᩣ᩠ᨦ
• 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)
• Ottoman Turkish: فیل (fil)
• Pali: hatthin m, nāga m, gaja m
• Pannonian Rusyn: єлефант m (jelefant), слон m (slon)
• Pashto: پيل (ps) m (pil)
• Persian:

  Middle Persian: pyl (pīl)

  Dari: فِیل (fa) (fīl), پِیل (fa) (pīl)

  Iranian Persian: فیل (fa) (fil), پیل (fa) (pil), کنجر (kenjar)

• 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
• Marwari: गयंद m (gayand)
• Rohingya: háñti
• Romani: woroslano m, woroslanka f, elefànto m
• Romanian: elefant (ro) m
• Romansch: elefant
• Russian: слон (ru) m (slon), слони́ха (ru) f (sloníxa)
• Rwanda-Rundi: inzovu
• Saek: ซาง
• Saho: dakano
• 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 (hăti)
• Sardinian: elefante ?, elefanti ?
• Scottish Gaelic: ailbhean m
• Semai: cig
• Semelai: kĕgdo, pemalen, pemaleng
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сло̏н m, сло̀ница f, фил m (regional)

  Roman: 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: ہاٿيِ (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)
• Southern Tidung: gedingan
• Spanish: elefante (es) m

  Old Spanish: alefant m, eleofant m, elifant m

• Sranan Tongo: asaw
• Sumerian: 𒄠𒋛 (amsi)
• Sundanese: ᮌᮏᮂ (gajah)
• Supyire: ńtàsùù
• Swahili: ndovu (sw), tembo (sw)
• Swazi: indlovu
• Swedish: elefant (sv)
• Sylheti: ꠀꠔ꠆ꠔꠤ (atti)
• Tagal Murut: godingan, godingan
• 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)
• 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)
• Tibetan: གླང་ཆེན (glang chen), གླང་པོ (glang po)
• Tigrinya: ሓርማዝ (ti) (ḥarmaz)
• Timugon Murut: gadingan, mangumbus togup
• Toba Batak: ᯎᯐ (gaja)
• Tocharian B: onkolmo
• Tswana: tlou class 9/10
• Tumbuka: ndlovu
• Turka: gbĩɛ̃lw
• Turkana: etom
• Turkish: fil (tr)
• 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)
• Urdu: ہاتھی m (hāthī), ہَسْتی m (hastī), گَج m (gaj), فِیل m (fīl), پِیل m (pīl)
• Uyghur: پىل (pil)
• Uzbek: fil (uz)
• Venda: nḓou
• Vietnamese: voi (vi)
• Vilamovian: elefaont
• Volapük: leefad (vo)
• Welsh: eliffant (cy), cawrfil m
• West Coast Bajau: datu', gaja
• West Frisian: oaljefant c
• Western Cham: ليمان limân
• White Hmong: ntxhw
• Wolof: ñey wi, ñay (wo)
• Xhosa: indlovu
• Yagnobi: фил (fil)
• Yakut: слон (slon)
• 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

anything huge and ponderous

• Finnish: mammutti (fi)
• French: éléphantesque (fr) m or f
• Swahili: kubwa (sw)

See also

Xiangqi pieces in English (see also: xiangqi) (layout · text)
general	advisor	elephant	horse	chariot	cannon	soldier

Further reading

• elephant on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Elephant (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• heptenal

Middle French

Noun

elephant m (plural elephans)

1. elephant (animal)

Descendants

• French: éléphant
  • Haitian Creole: elefan
  • → Romanian: elefant
• → Irish: eilifint
• → Norman: êléphant, éléphant