← All words
noun, masculine

éléphant

/e.le.fɑ̃/

noun, masculine/e.le.fɑ̃/plural: éléphants

elephant (large mammal of the family Elephantidae in the order Proboscidea); male elephant

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”).