hippopotamus

hippopotamus

See also: Hippopotamus

English

Hippopotamus

Alternative forms

• hippopotamos (archaic), hippotamus (obsolete)

Etymology

From Latin and New Latin hippopotamus, from Ancient Greek ἱπποπόταμος (hippopótamos), from ἵππος (híppos, “horse”) (English hippo-) + ποταμός (potamós, “river”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌhɪ.pə.ˈpɒ.tə.məs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: hip‧po‧po‧ta‧mus

Noun

hippopotamus (plural hippopotami or hippopotamuses or hippopotamus)

1. A large, semi-aquatic, herbivorous (plant-eating) African mammal (Hippopotamus amphibius; common hippopotamus).
   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, OCLC 1167497017:

     These were the first hippopotami that we had ever seen, and, to judge by their insatiable curiosity, I should judge that we were the first white men that they had ever seen.

   Synonyms: hippo, river horse

2. Any similar animal of the family Hippopotamidae.

Derived terms

• pygmy hippopotamus (Hexaprotodon liberiensis, syn. Choeropsis liberiensis)

Related terms

• hippo-
• Mesopotamia
• potamic

 

Translations

large African mammal

Afrikaans: seekoei (af) Albanian: kali i Nilit m, hipopotam (sq) m, hippopotamus (sq) m Amharic: ጉማሬ (gumare) Arabic: فَرَس نَهْر‎ m (faras nahr) Hijazi Arabic: فَرَس النَّهْر‎ m (faras an-nahar) Egyptian Arabic: سَيِّد قِشْطه‎ m (sayyed ʾešṭa) Tunisian Arabic: ليپوپوتام‎ m (lipuputēm) Aragonese: hipopotamo m Armenian: գետաձի (hy) (getaji), բեգեմոտ (hy) (begemot) (colloquial) Assamese: জলহস্তী (zolohosti) Asturian: hipopótamu m Ateso: emiria Azerbaijani: begemot (az), su atı Basque: hipopotamo (eu) Beja: iisin Belarusian: бегемо́т m (bjehjemót), гіпапата́м m (hipapatám) Bengali: জলহস্তী (bn) (jôlôhôstī) Bulgarian: хипопота́м (bg) m (hipopotám), ре́чен кон m (réčen kon), бегемо́т m (begemót) (dated) Burmese: ရေမြင်း (my) (re-mrang:) Catalan: hipopòtam (ca) m Cerma: yoŋo Chichewa: mvuu Chinese: Cantonese: 河馬, 河马 (ho4 maa5) Hakka: 河馬, 河马 (hò-mâ) Mandarin: 河馬／河马 (zh) (hémǎ) Min Nan: 河馬 (zh-min-nan), 河马 (hô-bé) Chuvash: бегемот (begemot) Cornish: dowrvargh m Crimean Tatar: suv ayğırı Czech: hroch (cs) m Danish: flodhest (da) c Dutch: nijlpaard (nl) n Dyula: mali, mɛli Egyptian: (ḫꜣb) Erzya: леельде f (lejelʹde) Esperanto: hipopotamo (eo) Estonian: jõehobu (et) Faroese: áarross n Finnish: virtahepo (fi) French: hippopotame (fr) m, hippo (fr) m, cheval marin (fr) m Galician: hipopótamo m Georgian: ჰიპოპოტამი (hiṗoṗoṭami), ბეჰემოთი (behemoti) German: Flusspferd (de) n, Nilpferd (de) n Greek: ιπποπόταμος (el) m (ippopótamos) Ancient: ἱπποπόταμος m (hippopótamos), ἵππος ποτάμιος m (híppos potámios) Greenlandic: imermiutarsuaq (kl) Hausa: dṑrinā f Hebrew: הִיפּוֹפּוֹטָם‎ (he) m (hipopotám), בְּהֵמוֹת‎ (he) m (b'hemót), סוּס יְאוֹר‎ m (sus y'ór) Hindi: दरियाई घोड़ा m (dariyāī ghoṛā), जलीय घोड़ा m (jalīya ghoṛā), जलहस्ती (hi) m (jalhastī), हिप्पोपोटामस m (hippopoṭāmas), दरियाई (hi) m (dariyāī) Hungarian: víziló (hu) Icelandic: flóðhestur (is) m Indonesian: kuda nil Irish: dobhareach m Italian: ippopotamo (it) m Japanese: 河馬 (ja) (かば, kaba), カバ (ja) (kaba) Kalmyk: усна үкр (usna ükr) Karang: naymbih Kazakh: бегемот (begemot), сусиыр (susiyr), су сиыры (su siyry) Khmer: ដំរីទឹក (dɑmrəy tɨk) Korean: 하마(河馬) (ko) (hama) Kumyk: суват (suwat) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: hespê avê (ku) Kyrgyz: бегемот (begemot), гиппопотам (ky) (gippopotam) Lao: ຊ້າງນ້ຳ (sāng nam) Latin: hippopotamus m Latvian: nīlzirgs, hipopotams, behemots m Lithuanian: hipopotamas (lt) m, begemotas m, upėarklis m Macedonian: нилски коњ m (nilski konj) Malay: badak air Malayalam: നീർക്കുതിര (ml) (nīṟkkutira), ഹിപ്പോപ്പൊട്ടാമസ് (ml) (hippōppoṭṭāmasŭ) Maltese: ippopotamu m Manx: cabbylawin m Marathi: पाणघोड m (pāṇghoḍ) Miya: su ándázhi Mongolian: Cyrillic: армаана (armaana), далайн морь (dalajn morʹ), армана (mn) (armana), усны үхэр (usny üxer) Nandi: makas Navajo: tééhoołtsódii Nogai: зил (zil) Norwegian: Bokmål: flodhest m Nynorsk: flodhest m Occitan: ipopotam (oc) m Ojibwe: gchi-bgwaji-gookoosh anim Old English: nicor m Ossetian: бегемот (begemot) Ottoman Turkish: آت بالغی‎ (at balığı), صو آیغری‎ (su ayğırı) Pashto: د اوبو آس‎ Persian: اسب آبی‎ (asb-e âbi) Polish: hipopotam (pl) m Portuguese: hipopótamo (pt) m Punjabi: ਦਰਿਆਈ ਘੋੜਾ m (dariāī ghoṛā) Romani: hipopotàmo Romanian: hipopotam (ro) m Russian: гиппопота́м (ru) m (gippopotám), бегемо́т (ru) m (begemót) Salar: su at Sambe: tòbárì Sanskrit: करियाद m (kariyāda) Scottish Gaelic: each-aibhne m, capall-abhainn m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: поводни коњ m, нилски коњ m Roman: povodni konj m, nilski konj m Sinhalese: හිපපොටේමස් (hipapoṭēmas) Slovak: hroch (sk) m Slovene: povodni konj (sl) m, nilski konj m Somali: jeer (so) Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: wódny kóń m Sotho: kubu (st) Spanish: hipopótamo (es) m Supyire: kòòntìrìŋè Swahili: kiboko (sw) Swedish: flodhäst (sv) c Tagalog: ipopotamo Tajik: баҳмут (tg) (bahmut), аспи обӣ (aspi obī) Tamil: நீரானை (nīrāṉai) Tatar: гиппопотам (gippopotam), (male) су үгезе (su ügeze), (female) су сыеры (su sıyerı) Thai: ฮิปโปโปเตมัส (th) (híp-bpoo-bpoo-dtee-más) Tibetan: ཆུ་རྟ (chu rta) Tigrinya: ጉማረ (gumarä) Tsonga: mpfuvu Turkana: epiri Turkish: su aygırı (tr), hipopotam (tr) Turkmen: gippopotam, suw aty, begemot (tk) Ukrainian: гіпопота́м m (hipopotám), бегемо́т (uk) m (behemót) Urdu: دریائی گھوڑا‎ m (dariyā'ī ghoṛā) Uyghur: سۇ ئېتى‎ (su ëti), بېگېموت‎ (bëgëmot) Uzbek: begemot (uz), suv oti, gippopotam (uz) Vietnamese: lợn nước, hà mã (vi) (河馬) Volapük: hiopot, flumedajevod Warji: ndaaje Welsh: afonfarch, hipopotamws Wolof: léebéer bi Xhosa: imvubu class 9/10 Yiddish: היפּאָפּאָטאַם‎ m (hipopotam), פֿלוספֿערד‎ n (flusferd) Zhuang: hozmaj Zulu: ingexe, imvubu (zu) class 9/10 Punjabi: ਦਰਿਆਈ ਘੋੜਾ m (dariāī ghoṛā) Punjabi: ਦਰਿਆਈ ਘੋੜਾ m (dariāī ghoṛā)

See also

Similar-looking but unrelated terms, not to be confused with the above

• hypotenuse
• hypothalamus

 

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Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἱπποπόταμος (hippopótamos), from ἵππος (híppos, “horse”) + ποταμός (potamós, “river”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /hip.poˈpo.ta.mus/, [hɪpːɔˈpɔt̪ämʊs̠]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ip.poˈpo.ta.mus/, [ipːoˈpɔːt̪ämus]

Noun

hippopotamus m (genitive hippopotamī); second declension

1. a hippopotamus

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	hippopotamus	hippopotamī
Genitive	hippopotamī	hippopotamōrum
Dative	hippopotamō	hippopotamīs
Accusative	hippopotamum	hippopotamōs
Ablative	hippopotamō	hippopotamīs
Vocative	hippopotame	hippopotamī

Descendants

• English: hippopotamus
• Portuguese: hipopótamo
• Spanish: hipopótamo

References

• “hippopotamus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• hippopotamus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette