hippopotamus

• hippopotamos (archaic), hippotamus (obsolete)

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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌhɪp.əˈpɒt.ə.məs/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌhɪp.əˈpɑ.tə.məs/, [ˌhɪp.əˈpɑ.ɾə.məs]

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• (Philippine) IPA^(key): /hɪ.poˈpo.ta.mʊs/, /hɪ.po.poˈta.mʊs/
• (Ghana) IPA^(key): /ˌhi.po̞.po̞.ˈte̞ː.mo̞s/
• (Nigeria) IPA^(key): /ˌhi.po.ˈpo.te.mɔs/
• Hyphenation: hip‧po‧po‧ta‧mus

hippopotamus (plural hippopotami or hippopotamuses or hippopotamus)

1. A large, semi-aquatic, herbivorous (plant-eating) African mammal (Hippopotamus amphibius; common hippopotamus).

   Synonyms: hippo, river horse

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     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.

2. Any similar animal of the family Hippopotamidae.

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

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

hippopotamus m (genitive hippopotamī); second declension

1. a hippopotamus

Second-declension noun.

• Asturian: hipopótamu
• Catalan: hipopòtam
• English: hippopotamus
• French: hippopotame
• Italian: ippopotamo
• Leonese: hipopótamu
• Occitan: ipopotam
• Portuguese: hipopótamo
• Romanian: hipopotam
• Spanish: hipopótamo

• “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.