giraffe

giraffe

See also: Giraffe

English

Giraffe

Etymology

From Middle French giraffe (Modern French girafe), from Arabic زَرَافَة‎ (zarāfa, “giraffe”); ultimately from Persian زُرنَاپَا‎ (zurnāpā), a compound of زُرنَا‎ (zurnā, “flute”) and پَا‎ (pā, “leg”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dʒɪˈɹɑːf/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒəˈɹæf/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːf

Noun

giraffe (plural giraffes or giraffe)

1. A ruminant, of the genus Giraffa, of the African savannah with long legs and highly elongated neck, which make it the tallest living animal; yellow fur patterned with dark spots, often in the form of a network; and two or more short, skin-covered horns, so-called; strictly speaking the horn-like projections are ossicones.
2. A giraffe unicycle.
3. (Cockney rhyming slang) A laugh.

   Are you having a giraffe?!

4. (Internet slang, uncommon) A very tall individual.

Synonyms

• camelopard
• (a laugh) bubble bath, bubble

Derived terms

Related terms

• giraffish
• giraffy
• giraffe weevil
• giraffelike
• Kilimanjaro giraffe
• Kordofan giraffe
• Masai giraffe
• Nigerian giraffe
• Nubian giraffe
• Rhodesian giraffe
• smoky giraffe
• Somali giraffe
• South African giraffe
• Rothschild giraffe
• Ugandan giraffe

Translations

mammal

Afar: gari Afrikaans: kameelperd (af) Albanian: gjirafë (sq) Amharic: ቀጭኔ (ḳäč̣ne) Arabic: زَرَافَة‎ (ar) f (zarāfa) Aragonese: chirafa f Aramaic: Classical Syriac: ܙܪܢܦܐ‎ m (zarnāp̄āʾ), ܓܡܠ ܢܡܪܐ‎ m (gəmal nemrāʾ) Armenian: ընձուղտ (hy) (ənjułt) Assamese: জিৰাফ (ziraph) Asturian: xirafa f Azerbaijani: zürafə (az) Basque: jirafa (eu) Belarusian: жыра́фа f (žyráfa) Bengali: জরৈফ (jôroiphô) Bongo: kïlïrü Bulgarian: жира́ф (bg) m (žiráf), жира́фа (bg) f (žiráfa) Burmese: သစ်ကုလားအုတ် (my) (sacku.la:ut) Catalan: girafa (ca) f Central Melanau: jirapah Cherokee: ᏗᎦᎵᏍᏚᎩᏍᎩ (digalisdugisgi) Cheyenne: tsėhe'ėsenotováhe Chichewa: nyamalikiti, nswala Chinese: Cantonese: 長頸鹿, 长颈鹿 (coeng4 geng2 luk6, coeng4 geng2 luk6-2) Hakka: 長頸鹿, 长颈鹿 (chhòng-kiáng-lu̍k) Mandarin: 長頸鹿／长颈鹿 (zh) (chángjǐnglù) Min Nan: 長頷鹿 (zh-min-nan), 长颔鹿 (tn̂g-ām-lo̍k), 長頭鹿仔, 长头鹿仔 (tn̂g-thâu-lo̍k-á), 麒麟鹿 (kî-lîn-lo̍k) Coptic: ⲁⲛⲑⲉⲣⲟⲥ f (antheros) Cornish: jiraff m Czech: žirafa (cs) f Danish: giraf (da) c Daur: чилин (čilin) Dhivehi: ޒަރާފާ‎ (zarāfā) Dutch: giraf (nl) f Egyptian: (mmj) Erzya: дуебабри (dujebabri) Esperanto: ĝirafo Estonian: kaelkirjak (et) Faroese: giraffur m Finnish: kirahvi (fi) French: girafe (fr) f Galician: xirafa (gl) f Georgian: ჟირაფი (žirapi) German: Giraffe (de) f Greek: καμηλοπάρδαλη (el) f (kamilopárdali) Ancient: καμηλοπάρδαλις f (kamēlopárdalis) Guerrero Amuzgo: kió' xtyo' tkò Gujarati: જિરાફ (jirāph) Hadza: zzókwanako, háwayii (triumphal name) Haitian Creole: jiraf Hebrew: גִ׳ירָף‎ m (jiraf) Hindi: जिराफ़ m (jirāf), जिराफ (hi) m (jirāph), जराफ़ (jarāf), जुराफा (hi) (jurāphā), जराफा (hi) m (jarāphā) Hungarian: zsiráf (hu) Hunsrik: Schiraff f Icelandic: gíraffi (is) f Ido: jirafo (io) Indonesian: jerapah (id), zarafah (id) Irish: sioráf Italian: giraffa (it) f Japanese: 麒麟 (ja) (きりん, kirin), キリン (ja) (kirin) Kalmyk: анаш (anash) Kannada: ಜಿರಾಫೆ (jirāphe) Kazakh: жираф (jiraf), керік (kerık) Khmer: ហ្សីរ៉ាហ្វ (ziiraaf), កវែង (km) (kɑɑ vɛɛng) Khoekhoe: ǃnaib Kikuyu: ndũiga class 9/10, njirabu Korean: 기린(麒麟) (ko) (girin) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: زەڕافە‎ (zerrafe), ھێشترگا‎ (hêştirga) Northern Kurdish: hêştirga (ku), canhêştir (ku), zirafe (ku) Kyrgyz: жираф (jiraf) Lao: ກວາງຄໍຍາວ (lo) (kuāng khǭ nyāo) Latin: camelopardalis (la) f Latvian: žirafe f Lithuanian: žirafa (lt) f Luxembourgish: Giraff (lb) f Maasai: olmeut m Macedonian: жира́фа f (žiráfa) Malay: zirafah Malayalam: ജിറാഫ് (ml) (jiṟāfŭ) Maori: kakīroa Middle Persian: 𐭥𐭱𐭲𐭫𐭢𐭠𐭥𐭯𐭫𐭭𐭢‎ (ʿštlgʾʿplng /uštar-gāw-palang/) Mongolian: Cyrillic: анааш (mn) (anaaš) Mongolian: ᠠᠨᠠᠰᠢ (anasi) Navajo: tsinlátah ayáanii Norman: girafe f Northern Sotho: thutlwa Norwegian: Bokmål: sjiraff (no) m Nynorsk: sjiraff m Occitan: girafa (oc) f Oromo: sattawwaa Pashto: زرافه‎ (ps) f (zarāfá) Persian: زرّافه‎ (fa) (zarrâfe), شترگاوپلنگ‎ (fa) (šotorgâvpalang), زرناپا‎ (zornâpâ) Polish: żyrafa (pl) f Portuguese: girafa (pt) f Romanian: girafă (ro) f Romansch: giraffa f Russian: жира́ф (ru) m (žiráf), жира́фа (ru) f (žiráfa) (obsolete), гира́ф m (giráf) (obsolete) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: жира̀фа f Roman: žiràfa (sh) f Samoan: serafa Sicilian: jirafa f, zirafa f Sinhalese: ජිරාෆ් (jirāf) Slovak: žirafa (sk) f Slovene: žirafa (sl) f Somali: geri Sotho: thuhlo Spanish: jirafa (es) f Swahili: twiga (sw) Swedish: giraff (sv) c Sylheti: ꠎꠤꠞꠣꠚ (zirafó) Tagalog: hirapa Tajik: заррофа (tg) (zarrofa), шутурпаланг (šuturpalang) Tamil: ஒட்டகச்சிவிங்கி (ta) (oṭṭakacciviṅki) Telugu: జిరాఫీ (te) (jirāphī) Thai: ยีราฟ (th) (yii-ráap) Tigrinya: ዝዖታ (zəʿota), ዘራፍ (zäraf) Tongan: selafi Tswana: thutlwa (tn) Turkish: zürafa (tr) Turkmen: žiraf (tk) Ukrainian: жира́фа f (žyráfa), жира́ф m (žyráf) Urdu: جراف‎ m (jirāf), زرافہ‎ (ur) (zarrāfe) Uyghur: زىراپە‎ (zirape) Uzbek: jirafa (uz), zirofa (uz) Vietnamese: hươu cao cổ (vi) Volapük: giraf (vo) Welsh: jiráff m Wolof: njamala mi (wo) Xhosa: indlulamthi class 9/10 Yiddish: זשיראַף‎ m (zhiraf) Zhuang: loeghozraez Zulu: indlulamithi (zu) class 9/10

Further reading

• giraffe on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Giraffa on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Giraffa on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• riffage

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Dutch

Etymology

Possibly via German Giraffe, from Italian giraffa, from Arabic زَرَافَة‎ (zarāfa).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʒiˈrɑf/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: gi‧raf‧fe
• Rhymes: -ɑf

Noun

giraffe f (plural giraffen or giraffes, diminutive giraffetje n or girafje n)

1. Alternative spelling of giraf.

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French

Noun

giraffe f (plural giraffes)

1. Archaic spelling of girafe.

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Italian

Noun

giraffe f

1. plural of giraffa