Other forms: elephants
An elephant is the largest land animal, with a long trunk, large ears and tusks. A herd of elephants, an elephant sanctuary, the elephant lifted the log.
There are African and Asian elephants and the difference is visible in the ears, which are much larger on the African. The trunk is the nose, and it is used for breathing, drinking, smelling and picking things up. Two idioms are worth having and are both very common: the elephant in the room is an obvious problem nobody will mention, and an elephant never forgets is a proverb about long memory.
1nounelephantThe largest land animal, with a trunk and tusks.
“The elephants came down to the water at dusk.”
elephant is an animal.
Greek elephas meant both the animal and ivory, and the word may go back through Berber to an Egyptian word for ivory. English got it through Latin and French, and the -ph- spelling is the Greek one preserved through three borrowings.
egy
ꜣbw — elephant; ivory
ber-pro
*eḷu — elephant
Ancient Greek
ἐλέφᾱς
Latin
elephantus
Old French
elefant
Middle English
elefant
English, today
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 (gen. ἐλέφαντος). Believed to be derived from an afa - form such as ber-pro eḷu (“elephant”) (compare thv êlu, taq alu) or egy 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”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA