elephants

Variant of elephant

elephant definition

el·ephant (el′ə fənt)

noun pl. elephants -·phants or elephant -·phant

any of an order (Proboscidea) of huge, thick-skinned, almost hairless mammals, the largest of extant four-footed animals, with a long, flexible snout (called a trunk) and, usually, two ivory tusks growing out of the upper jaw: the two existing species are the Asiatic (or Indian) elephant (Elephas maximus), which is commonly domesticated and is an endangered species, and the African elephant (Loxodonta africana), which has a flatter head and larger ears

Etymology: ME elefaunt < L elephantus < Gr elephas (gen. elephantos), elephant, ivory < ? Berber elu, elephant + Egypt Ȝbw, elephant, ivory

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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