elephant

CEFRA2

/ˈɛlɪfənt/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A very large animal with thick skin, big ears, and a trunk.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    Anything huge and ponderous.

Examples

  • A critically wounded elephant went berserk and attacked every living thing in his path.

  • Seen from a distance, the hill looks like an elephant.

At a glance

Sits at A2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
1
Synonyms
2

Also pronounced

  • /ˈe.lɪ.ˈfæːnʈ/
  • /ˈe.lɪ.ˈfenʈ/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings
  1. Synonym of elephant paper.

  2. A large mammal of the family Elephantidae in the order Proboscidea, having a trunk, and native to Africa and Asia.

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

More examples

In context
  • Let's play hide and seek. I'll count. One elephant, two elephant, three elephant...

  • He sent rich gifts of elephant and gold.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The zookeeper fed a large banana to the thirsty blank in the enclosure.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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”).