# elephant

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈɛl.ɪ.fənt/ · frequency rank #6,236

## Definitions
1. A large mammal of the family Elephantidae in the order Proboscidea, having a trunk, and native to Africa and Asia.
2. Any member of the subfamily Elephantinae not also of the genera Mammuthus and Primelephas.
3. Anything huge and ponderous.
4. Synonym of elephant paper.
5. used when counting to add length, so that each count takes about one second
6. Ivory.
7. A xiangqi piece that is moved two points diagonally, may not jump over intervening pieces and may not cross the river.

## Etymology
From Middle English elefant, elefaunt, from Old French elefant, elefan, olifant, re-latinized in Middle French as elephant, from Latin elephantus, from Ancient Greek ἐλέφᾱς (eléphās) (gen. ἐλέφαντος (eléphantos)). Believed to be derived from an Afroasiatic form such as Proto-Berber *eḷu (“elephant”) (compare , Tamasheq alu) or Egyptian ꜣbw (“elephant; ivory”). More at ivory. Replaced Middle English olifant (from the aforementioned Old French form, from Vulgar Latin *olifantus), which replaced Old English elpend (“elephant”).

## Easily confused with
- **elephants** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/elephant-vs-elephants)
- **elephant's** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/elephant-vs-elephant-s)
- **elegant** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/elegant-vs-elephant)

## Common misspellings (12)
`eelphant`, `elehpant`, `elepahnt`, `elephannt`, `elephantt`, `elephatn`, `elephhant`, `elephnat`, `elepphant`, `ellephant`, `elpehant`, `leephant`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/elephant