Word.ws English Dictionary

elephant

Syllables: ele·phantUK/ˈɛlɪfənt//ˈɛləfənt/

elephant noun: a large mammal of the family Elephantidae in the order Proboscidea, having a trunk, and native to Africa and Asia.

elephant: a large mammal of the family Elephantidae in the order Proboscidea, having a trunk, and native to...
Image: Giles Laurent, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

elephant (countable and uncountable, plural elephants)

  1. 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...1541, Thomas Elyote [i.e., Thomas Elyot], “The Preface. To All the Nobilitee of this Flourishyng Realme of England, Thomas Elyote Knight Desyreth Increase of Vertue and Honour.”, in [Aelius...
    Synonyms:
    elephantid
  2. (figuratively) Anything huge and ponderous.
  3. (paper) Synonym of elephant paper.
    Synonyms:
    elephant paper
  4. (UK, childish) 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.1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
  6. A xiangqi piece that is moved two points diagonally, may not jump over intervening pieces and may not cross the river.

Proper noun capitalized: Elephant

Elephant

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

elephant meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

elephant in Hindi

mammal
हाथी hāthī, हस्ती hastī, गज gaj, पील pīl

elephant in Tamil

mammal
யானை yāṉai

elephant in Marathi

mammal
हत्ती hattī

elephant in Urdu

mammal
ہاتھی hāthī, ہَسْتی hastī, گَج gaj, فِیل fīl, پِیل pīl
More languagesFewer languages
elephant in Bengali
হাতি hati
elephant in Telugu
ఏనుగు ēnugu, గజము gajamu
elephant in Malayalam
ആന āna
elephant in Kannada
ಆನೆ āne, ಗಜ gaja
elephant in Punjabi
ਹਾਥੀ hāthī
elephant in Gujarati
હાથી hāthī
elephant in Odia
ହାତୀ hāti
elephant in Sanskrit
गज gaja, इभ ibha, हस्तिन् hastin, नाग nāga
elephant in Sinhala
අලියා aliyā
elephant in Assamese
হাতী hati
elephant in Nepali
हात्ती hāttī
elephant in Pashto
پيل pil
elephant in Tagalog
elepante, gadya
elephant in Arabic
فِيل fīl, فيل fīl
elephant in Malay
gajah, cewe untut, biram, liman
elephant in Indonesian
gajah
elephant in Persian
فِیل fīl, پِیل pīl, فیل fil, پیل pil
elephant in Thai
ช้าง cháang, คชสาร kót-chá-sǎan
elephant in Vietnamese
voi
elephant in Myanmar
ဆင် hcang
Sindhi
هاٿيِ hāthī
Dhivehi
އެތް et̊
Kashmiri
ہۆس hos, ہۆست host, ۂسؠ تِنؠ hạs'tin'

Examples of elephant in a sentence

  • The circus trainer cracked the whip, signaling the elephant to trumpet.
  • You have to break an elephant before you can use it as an animal of burden.
  • By the end of the 20th century elephants had become scarce even in Africa.

All 40 example sentences with elephant

Synonyms of elephant

Forms of elephant

pluralelephants
alternative form (obsolete)oliphant
alternative form (obsolete)olyphant

Plural of elephant: elephants

Origin of elephant

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”).

Words formed from elephant

Phrases with elephant

57 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about elephant

What does elephant mean?
Elephant means a large mammal of the family Elephantidae in the order Proboscidea, having a trunk, and native to Africa and Asia.
What is elephant in Hindi?
Elephant in Hindi is हाथी (hāthī), हस्ती (hastī), गज (gaj). See Elephant meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is elephant?
Elephant can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce elephant?
Elephant is pronounced /ˈɛlɪfənt/ (UK).
What is the plural of elephant?
The plural of elephant is elephants.

Words near elephant in the dictionary

  1. eleostearic acids
  2. eleotrid
  3. eleotrids
  4. elepaio
  5. elepaios
  6. elephant
  7. Elephant and Castle
  8. elephant apple
  9. elephant apples
  10. elephant beetle
  11. elephant beetles

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: elephant (page history and authors); Elephant (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-elephant.ogg.

Cite this entry: “elephant.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/elephant. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.