éléphant

Inherited from Middle French elephant, from Old French elefant, a borrowing from Latin elephantus, from Ancient Greek ἐλέφας, ἐλέφαντος (eléphas, eléphantos). The commoner Old French form was olifan(t), whence the modern doublet olifant (“ivory horn”).

• IPA^(key): /e.le.fɑ̃/

  • Audio; “un éléphant”:

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  • Audio (France (Paris)):

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  • Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• (Louisiana) IPA^(key): /e.le.fɑ̃/, /a.le.fɑ̃/
• Rhymes: -ɑ̃
• Homophone: éléphants

éléphant m (plural éléphants, feminine éléphante)

1. elephant (large mammal of the family Elephantidae in the order Proboscidea)
2. (strictly) male elephant

   Coordinate terms: (gender) éléphante f, éléphantesse f (rare), (age) éléphanteau m, éléphantelle f (rare)

• Haitian Creole: elefan
• Louisiana Creole: léléfan, néléfan
• → Romanian: elefant

• “éléphant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012
• Dictionary of Louisiana French: As Spoken in Cajun, Creole, and American Indian Communities (2009; →ISBN; →ISBN)

• êléphant (Jersey)

Borrowed from Middle French elephant, itself a learned borrowing from Latin elephantus, from Ancient Greek ἐλέφας, ἐλέφαντος (eléphas, eléphantos).

éléphant m (plural éléphants)

1. (Guernsey) elephant