# hippopotamus
## English
### 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”). Displaced nicker, from Old English nicor.

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˌhɪp.əˈpɒt.ə.məs/
* (US, Canada) IPA: /ˌhɪp.əˈpɑ.tə.məs/, [ˌhɪp.əˈpɑ.ɾə.məs]
** Audio (US):(file)
* (Philippines) IPA: /hɪ.poˈpo.ta.mʊs/, /hɪ.po.poˈta.mʊs/
* (Ghana) IPA: /ˌhi.po̞.po̞ˈte̞ː.mo̞s/
* (Nigeria) IPA: /ˌhi.poˈpo.te.mɔs/
* Hyphenation: hip‧po‧po‧ta‧mus

### Noun

hippopotamus (plural hippopotami or hippopotamuses or hippopotamus)
* 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.
* Any similar animal of the family Hippopotamidae.

#### Derived terms

* common hippopotamus
* dependapotamus
* hippo
* Hippopotamus Defence
* hippopotamuslike
* pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis)
* woolly hippopotamus

#### Related terms

* hippo-
* hippopotamine
* Mesopotamia
* potamic

#### Translations

Afrikaans: seekoei (af)
Albanian: kali i Nilit m, hipopotam (sq) m, hippopotamus (sq) m
Amharic: ጉማሬ (gumare)
Arabic: فَرَس نَهْر m (faras nahr)
Chadian Arabic: قرنتي m (girinti)
Egyptian Arabic: سَيِّد قِشْطه m (sayyed ʔešṭa)
Hijazi Arabic: فَرَس النَّهْر m (faras an-nahar)
South Levantine Arabic: فرس النهر m (faras in-náher)
Tunisian Arabic: ليپوپوتام m (lipuputēm)
Aragonese: hipopotamo m
Armenian: գետաձի (hy) (getaji), բեգեմոտ (hy) (begemot) (colloquial)
Assamese: জলহস্তী (zolohosti)
Asturian: hipopótamu (ast) m
Ateso: emiria
Azerbaijani: begemot (az), su atı
Basque: hipopotamo (eu)
Beja: iisin
Belarusian: бегемо́т m (bjehjemót), гіпапата́м m (hipapatám)
Bengali: জলহস্তী (bn) (jolohosti)
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 (ho$^4$ maa$^5$)
Hakka: 河馬 / 河马 (hò-mâ)
Hokkien: 河馬 / 河马 (zh-min-nan) (hô-bé)
Mandarin: 河馬 / 河马 (zh) (hémǎ)
Chuvash: бегемот (begemot)
Cornish: dowrvargh m
Crimean Tatar: suv ayğırı
Czech: hroch (cs) m
Danish: flodhest (da) c
Dime: ʔarú
Dutch: nijlpaard (nl) n
Dyula: mali, mɛli
Egyptian: (ḫꜣb)
Erzya: леельде f (lejelde)
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)
Hamer-Banna: áaɗe
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)
Hungarian: víziló (hu)
Icelandic: flóðhestur (is) m
Indonesian: kuda nil
Ingrian: begemootta
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)
Kituba: nguvu
Kongo: nguvu
Korean: 하마(河馬) (ko) (hama)
Kumyk: суват (suwat)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: hespê avê (ku)
Kyrgyz: бегемот (ky) (begemot), гиппопотам (ky) (gippopotam)
Lao: ຊ້າງນ້ຳ (sāng nam)
Latin: hippopotamus m
Latvian: nīlzirgs, hipopotams, behemots m
Lingala: ngubu
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: усны үхэр (usny üxer), армана (mn) (armana), армаана (armaana), усан тахь (usan taxʹ) (China)
Mongolian: ᠤᠰᠤᠨ ᠦ ᠦᠬᠡᠷ (usun-ü üker), ᠠᠷᠠᠮᠠᠨ᠎ᠠ (araman-a), ᠤᠰᠤᠨ ᠲᠠᠬᠢ (usun taki)
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: صو آیغری (su ayğırı), آت بالغی (at balığı), هیپوپوتام (hipopotam)
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 (asp-i obi)
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)
Tooro: enjubu class 9, ensere class 9
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)
Venda: mvuvhu
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)
Zhuang: hozmaj
Zulu: ingexe, imvubu (zu) class 9/10 :

### See also

* hypotenuse
* hypothalamus

## Latin
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

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

### Noun

hippopotamus m (genitive hippopotamī); second declension
* a hippopotamus

#### Declension

Second-declension noun.

#### Descendants

* Asturian: hipopótamu
* Catalan: hipopòtam
* → English: hippopotamus
* French: hippopotame
* Italian: ippopotamo
* Leonese: hipopótamu
* Occitan: ipopotam
* Portuguese: hipopótamo
* Romanian: hipopotam
* 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.