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elephant

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elephant¹

  • /ˈɛlɪfənt/ UK
  • /ˈɛləfənt/ Canada, US
  • /ˈeləfənt/ Australia, New Zealand
  • /elefant/ Philippines

Where it comes from

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”).

noun elephants · oliphant · olyphant

  1. countable, uncountable A large mammal of the family Elephantidae in the order Proboscidea, having a trunk, and native to Africa and Asia. [A] puiſſant olyphant being brought to the place, the grehound ſeming to reioice at the greatnes of the beaſt, rouſed him, and after two or three queſtynges, he lept to the great Olyphante, and after a longe fight ouerthrew hym and kylled hym. So I doubt not but that ſome men […] whiche beeyng ones

    Similar: elephantid

  2. countable, figuratively, uncountable Anything huge and ponderous.
  3. countable, uncountable Synonym of elephant paper.

    Similar: elephant paper

  4. UK, childish, countable, uncountable 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. obsolete, uncountable Ivory. He sent rich gifts of elephant and gold.
  6. countable, uncountable A xiangqi piece that is moved two points diagonally, may not jump over intervening pieces and may not cross the river.

Similar: elephant, oliphaunt

Elephant²

proper noun

  1. The 105th sura (chapter) of the Quran.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: chicken, bull, trunk, animal, cigar, vale, villa, kick, circus, jumbo, luxury, vila, problem, thing, phil, shrews

noun

Similar: elephant, oliphaunt

Translations

Every language

noun mammal

Españolelefante
한국어코끼리 kokkiri
日本語象 zou, ゾウ zou
中文象 xiàng, 大象 dàxiàng
हिन्दीहाथी hāthī, हस्ती hastī, गज gaj, पील pīl
Kiswahilindovu, tembo
Portuguêselefante, elefanta, aliá, elefoa, alifante
Françaiséléphant, éléphante, éléphanteau, éléphantelle
DeutschElefant, Elefantenbulle, Elefantin, Elefantenkuh, Elefantenkalb
Italianoelefante
Ελληνικάελέφαντας eléfantas
Românăelefant
Русскийслон slon, слони́ха sloníxa
Tiếng Việtvoi
العربيةفِيل fīl
עבריתפִּיל pil

noun anything huge and ponderous

Kiswahilikubwa
Françaiséléphantesque

name 105th sura of the Qur'an

Españolssfgd
日本語象
KiswahiliTembo
РусскийСло́н Slón
العربيةسورة الفيل

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Cite this
MLA

"elephant." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/elephant. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

elephant. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/elephant

Chicago

"elephant." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/elephant.

BibTeX
@misc{elephant_2026,
  title = {elephant},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/elephant},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}