gargantuan

gargantuan

English

Etymology

From French Gargantua, a giant with a very large appetite in Rabelais's The Inestimable Life of Gargantua. Rabelais derived Gargantua from the Portuguese and Spanish garganta (“throat”).[1]

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɡɑɹˈɡæn.t͡ʃu.ən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

gargantuan (comparative more gargantuan, superlative most gargantuan)

1. Huge; immense; tremendous.

   Synonyms: colossal, enormous, giant, huge, humongous, immense; see also Thesaurus:large

   • 2018 May 4, Tom English, “Steven Gerrard: A 'seriously clever or recklessly stupid' Rangers appointment”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Some distant observers of the Scottish football scene reckon that all - all! - Gerrard has to do is beat Celtic to become a legend. Even if that was true - and, demonstrably, it is not - then it would be a gargantuan task all on its own.

   • 2019 September 14, Elizabeth Paton, “A Fashion/Food Blowout in the Shadow of Brexit”, in New York Times‎:

     Or the twinkling dining rooms: all frilly net curtains, pink walls, kaleidoscope-patterned carpets and tiny tables, crammed with teetering piles of hand-painted ceramic crockery (think plates covered in colorful swirls and cocktail mugs shaped like heaving bosoms or ladies’ faces) that showcase gargantuan portions of Italian fare.

2. (obsolete) Of the giant Gargantua or his appetite.

Derived terms

• gargantuanism
• gargantuanly
• gargantuanness

Translations

huge

Danish: gigantisk, enorm Dutch: immens (nl) Estonian: hiiglaslik (et), hiigelsuur Finnish: valtava (fi), jättiläismäinen (fi), jättimäinen (fi), suunnaton (fi) French: gargantuesque (fr) German: gigantisch (de) Hungarian: rettentő nagy (hu), óriási (hu) Indonesian: besar (id), raksasa (id), luar biasa Italian: gigantesco (it), gargantuesco (it) Japanese: 巨大な (きょだいな, kyodaina), 膨大な (ぼうだいな, bōdaina), 夥しい (ja) (おびただしい, obitadashī) Kannada: ಬೃಹದಾಕಾರದ (kn) (bṛhadākārada), ದೈತ್ಯಾಕಾರದ (kn) (daityākārada), ವಿಪರೀತ (kn) (viparīta), ದೊಡ್ಡ (kn) (doḍḍa), ರಾಕ್ಷಸಾಕಾರದ (kn) (rākṣasākārada) Macedonian: гига́нтски (gigántski) Malayalam: വളരെ വലിയ (vaḷare valiya) Polish: gigantyczny (pl), gargantuiczny (pl) Romanian: imens (ro), enorm (ro), uriaș (ro), colosal (ro) Russian: гига́нтский (ru) (gigántskij) Swedish: gigantisk (sv), enorm (sv)

of the giant Gargantua or his appetite

French: gargantuesque (fr) Italian: gargantuesco (it) Japanese: ガルガンチュワの (Garuganchuwa no) Polish: gargantuiczny (pl) Romanian: gargantuesc

References

1. Gourd, Pumpkin. See Budge Ref, p 803A; (from 'Rev 12'--Revue Egyptologique publiee sous la direction de MM Brugsch, F Chabas, and Eug. Revillout (vol I-XIV))

Further reading

• “gargantuan”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• gargantuan in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• gargantuan in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• “gargantuan”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “gargantuan”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
• “gargantuan” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2023.
• gargantuan at OneLook Dictionary Search