elefante

• alifante (Palacios del Sil)

Borrowed from Latin elephantem, accusative of elephans, from Ancient Greek ἐλέφᾱς (eléphās). Cognates include Spanish elefante and Portuguese elefante.

• IPA^(key): /eleˈfante/ [e.leˈfãn̪.t̪e]
• Rhymes: -ante
• Syllabification: e‧le‧fan‧te

elefante m (plural elefantes)

1. elephant (mammal)

• Xosé Lluis García Arias (2002–2004), “elefante”, in Diccionario general de la lengua asturiana [General Dictionary of the Asturian Language] (in Spanish), Editorial Prensa Asturiana, →ISBN
• “elefante”, in Diccionariu de la llingua asturiana [Dictionary of the Asturian Language] (in Asturian), 1ª edición, Academia de la Llingua Asturiana, 2000, →ISBN

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “From Spanish or directly from Latin?”)

• IPA^(key): /elefante/ [e.le.fãn̪.t̪e]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ante, -e
• Hyphenation: e‧le‧fan‧te

elefante anim

1. elephant

• “elefante”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy] (in Basque), Euskaltzaindia [Royal Academy of the Basque Language]
• “elefante”, in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia [General Basque Dictionary], Euskaltzaindia, 1987–2005

Borrowed from Spanish elefante.

elefante

1. elephant.

• elepante (obsolete)

Borrowed from Spanish elefante.

elefante

1. elephant

• elefente

Borrowed from Latin elephantem, accusative of elephas, from Ancient Greek ἐλέφᾱς (eléphās). Cognates include Italian elefante and Spanish elefante.

• IPA^(key): /eleˈfãnte/

elefante m (plural elefanti)

1. elephant

• “elefante, elefente” in INFCOR: Banca di dati di a lingua corsa

• alefante

From Old Galician-Portuguese elefante, borrowed from Latin elephās, elephantis (“elephant”), from Ancient Greek ἐλέφᾱς (eléphās, “elephant, ivory”).

• IPA^(key): /eleˈfante/ [e.leˈfan̪.t̪ɪ]
• Rhymes: -ante
• Hyphenation: e‧le‧fan‧te

elefante m (plural elefantes, feminine elefanta, feminine plural elefantas)

1. elephant

• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “elefante”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “elefante”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “elefante”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN
• “elefante”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026
• “elefante”, in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (in Galician), 2014–2026

• alifante, leofante

Borrowed from Latin elephantem.

• IPA^(key): /e.leˈfan.te/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ante
• Hyphenation: e‧le‧fàn‧te

elefante m (plural elefanti, feminine elefantessa)

1. elephant

• elefantiaco
• elefantiasi
• elefantino

• elefante in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

• elefante on the Italian Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^it

elefante

1. vocative singular of elefantus

• alefante, alifãt, alifant, alifante, allifante, allyfante, alyfante, elephante, elifante, ellefante, ellifãte, elyfante, helifante

Learned borrowing from Latin elephās, borrowed from Ancient Greek ἐλέφᾱς (eléphās), possibly borrowed from Egyptian ꜣbw, from Proto-Afroasiatic *leb-. First attested in the 14th century.

elefante m (plural elefantes)

1. elephant
   • 1373 January 20, Fernán Martís, chapter 121, in Cronica Troiana [Trojan Chronicle], Kingdom of Galicia, translation of Roman de Troie by Benoît de Sainte-Maure (in Old French), →OCLC, manuscript MSS/10233, page 42:

     Et auja hũ caſtelete en çima todo encoyrado de coyro de alifãt. ⁊ era laũado p̃ g̃rã maeſtria ⁊ pintado moy ben.

     And there was a castlet on it, covered with elephant hide and skillfully adorned and very well painted.

2. (pathology, uncountable) elephantiasis

• Fala: elefanti
• Galician: elefante, alefante
• Portuguese: elefante, elephante, elephãte (obsolete)
  • Papiamentu: elefante

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “+l@fante”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “[ae]l[eiy]fante”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2020–2026), “elefante”, in Vocabulário histórico-cronológico do português medieval [Historical and chronological vocabulary of Medieval Portuguese] (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Fundação Casa de Rui Barbosa

• elephante, elephãte (obsolete)

From Old Galician-Portuguese elefante, elifante, borrowed from Latin elephantis (“elephant”), from Ancient Greek ἐλέφᾱς (eléphās, “elephant, ivory”). Doublet of olifante.

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -ɐ̃tɨ, (Brazil) -ɐ̃tʃi
• Hyphenation: e‧le‧fan‧te

elefante m (plural elefantes, feminine elefanta or aliá or elefoa, feminine plural elefantas or aliás or elefoas)

1. elephant (any mammal of the order Proboscidea)
2. (figurative, derogatory) landwhale (an obese person)

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:gordo

• Papiamentu: elefante

• “elefante”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “elefante”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

From various Old Spanish forms like elifant, alefant and eleofant, all ultimately from Latin elephantis, from Ancient Greek ἐλέφας (eléphas).

• IPA^(key): /eleˈfante/ [e.leˈfãn̪.t̪e]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ante
• Syllabification: e‧le‧fan‧te

elefante m (plural elefantes, feminine elefanta, feminine plural elefantas)

1. elephant

• → Basque: elefante
• → Copala Triqui: levanté, lavandé, lefandé, lajuandé
• → Chol: elefanti
• → Cebuano: elepante
• → Hiligaynon: elepante
• → Quechua: ilijanti
• → Tagalog: elepante
• → Waray-Waray: elepante

• “elefante”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025