Giraffe - Wiktionary

See also: Giraffe

English

[edit] Southern giraffe (Giraffa giraffa) (noun sense 1)

Etymology

[edit] Etymology treeProto-Indo-European *ḱer-der.?Proto-Indo-European *-h₂der.?Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂-der.?Classical Persian زُرْنَا (zurnā)Proto-Indo-European *ped-Proto-Indo-European *-sProto-Indo-European *pṓdsProto-Indo-Iranian *pā́tsProto-Iranian *pā́dahOld Persian 𐎱𐎠𐎭 (p-a-d)Classical Persian پَا (pā)Classical Persian زُرْنَاپَا (zurnāpā)bor.Classical Syriac ܙܪܝܦܐ (zārīp̄ā)bor.Arabic زُرَافَة (zurāfa)bor.Italian giraffabor.Middle French giraffebor.English giraffe

Borrowed from Middle French giraffe, from Italian giraffa. Displaced camelopard.

Pronunciation

[edit]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /dʒɪˈɹɑːf/
• (Northern England, Scotland) IPA(key): /dʒɪˈɹaf/
• (General American) IPA(key): /d͡ʒəˈɹæf/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.Particularly: "British English"

• Rhymes: -ɑːf

Noun

[edit]

giraffe (plural giraffes or giraffe)

1. A ruminant, of the genus Giraffa, of the African savannah with long legs and highly elongated neck, making them the tallest living animal; yellow fur patterned with dark spots, often in the form of a network; and two or more short, skin-covered horns, so-called; strictly speaking the horn-like projections are ossicones. Synonym: camelopard
   • 2019 June 6, “A gaggle, a confusion and a conspiracy - bizarre animal collective group names”, in BBC‎[1]:A group of giraffes is called a tower.
2. A giraffe unicycle.
3. (Cockney rhyming slang) A laugh. Synonyms: bubble bath, bubble Are you having a giraffe?!
4. (Internet slang, uncommon) A very tall individual.

Coordinate terms

[edit] animal

• (collective noun) tower

Derived terms

[edit]

• Angolan giraffe (Giraffa giraffa angolensis)
• Baringo giraffe
• Congolese giraffe
• forest giraffe
• giraffe bread
• giraffedom
• giraffe gazelle (Litocranius walleri)
• giraffelike
• giraffeling
• giraffe piano
• giraffe seahorse
• giraffe sheep
• giraffess
• giraffe thorn
• giraffe weevil (Trachelophorus giraffa)
• giraffish
• giraffiti
• giraffoid
• giraffy
• high as giraffe pussy
• Kilimanjaro giraffe (Giraffa tippelskirchi tippelskirchi)
• Kordofan giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis antiquorum)
• Maasai giraffe, Masai giraffe (Giraffa tippelskirchi tippelskirchi)
• Niger giraffe, Nigerian giraffe (Giraffa peralta)
• northern giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis)
• Nubian giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis camelopardalis)
• reticulated giraffe (Giraffa reticulata)
• Rhodesian giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis thornicrofti)
• Rothschild giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi)
• Rothschild's giraffe
• smoky giraffe (Giraffa giraffa angolensis)
• Somali giraffe (Giraffa reticulata)
• South African giraffe (Giraffa giraffa giraffa)
• Thornicroft's giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis thornicrofti)
• three-horned giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis)
• Ugandan giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi)
• West African giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis peralta)
• zebra giraffe

Translations

[edit] mammal

Afar: gari Afrikaans: kameelperd (af) Albanian: gjirafë (sq) Amharic: ቀጭኔ (ḳäč̣ne) Amuzgo: Guerrero Amuzgo: kió' xtyo' tkò Arabic: زَرَافَة (ar) f (zarāfa) Aragonese: chirafa f Aramaic: Classical Syriac: ܙܪܢܦܐ m (zarnāp̄āʾ), ܓܡܠ ܢܡܪܐ m (gəmal nemrāʾ) Armenian: ընձուղտ (hy) (ənjuġt) Assamese: জিৰাফ (ziraph) Asturian: xirafa (ast) f Azerbaijani: zürafə (az) Basque: jirafa (eu) Belarusian: жыра́фа f (žyráfa) Bengali: জরৈফ (jorōiph) Bongo: kïlïrü Bulgarian: жира́ф (bg) m (žiráf), жира́фа (bg) f (žiráfa) Burmese: သစ်ကုလားအုတ် (my) (sacku.la:ut) Catalan: girafa (ca) f Cherokee: ᏗᎦᎵᏍᏚᎩᏍᎩ (digalisdugisgi) Cheyenne: tsėhe'ėsenotováhe Chichewa: nyamalikiti class 9, nswala class 9, kadyamnsonga class 1a Chinese: Cantonese: 長頸鹿 / 长颈鹿 (coeng4 geng2 luk6, coeng4 geng2 luk6-2) Hakka: 長頸鹿 / 长颈鹿 (chhòng-kiáng-lu̍k) Hokkien: 長頷鹿 / 长颔鹿 (zh-min-nan) (tn̂g-ām-lo̍k), 長頭鹿仔 / 长头鹿仔 (tn̂g-thâu-lo̍k-á), 麒麟鹿 (kî-lîn-lo̍k) Mandarin: 長頸鹿 / 长颈鹿 (zh) (chángjǐnglù) Coptic: ⲁⲛⲑⲉⲣⲟⲥ f (antheros) Cornish: jiraff m Czech: žirafa (cs) f Danish: giraf (da) c Daur: чилин (čilin) Dhivehi: ޒަރާފާ (zarāfā) Dutch: giraf (nl) f Dzongkha: སྐེ་རིང་རྟ (ske ring rta) Egyptian: (mmj) Erzya: дуебабри (dujebabri) Esperanto: ĝirafo Estonian: kaelkirjak (et) Faroese: giraffur m Finnish: kirahvi (fi) French: girafe (fr) f, chameaupard m (archaic, obsolete) Galician: xirafa (gl) f Georgian: ჟირაფი (žirapi) German: Giraffe (de) f Greek: καμηλοπάρδαλη (el) f (kamilopárdali) Ancient Greek: καμηλοπάρδαλις f (kamēlopárdalis) Gujarati: જિરાફ (jirāph) Hadza: zzókwanako, háwayii (triumphal name) Haitian Creole: jiraf Hawaiian: kamelopaki Hebrew: גִ׳ירָף m (ĝīrāp̆), זֶמֶר m (zemer) (biblical) Hindi: जिराफ़ m (jirāf), जिराफ (hi) m (jirāph), जराफ़ (jarāf), जुराफा (hi) (jurāphā), जराफा (hi) m (jarāphā) Hungarian: zsiráf (hu) Hunsrik: Schiraff f Icelandic: gíraffi (is) m Ido: jirafo (io) Indonesian: jerapah (id), zarafah (id) Irish: sioráf Isoko: ogodogbo Italian: giraffa (it) f Japanese: 麒麟 (ja) (きりん, kirin), キリン (ja) (kirin) Kalmyk: анаш (anaş) Kannada: ಜಿರಾಫೆ (jirāphe) Kazakh: жираф (jiraf), керік (kerık) Khmer: ហ្សីរ៉ាហ្វ (ziiraaf), កវែង (km) (kɑɑ vɛɛng) Khoekhoe: ǃnaib Kikuyu: ndũiga class 9/10, njirabu Korean: 기린(麒麟) (ko) (girin) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: زەڕافە (ckb) (zerrafe), ھێشترگا (hêştirga) Northern Kurdish: hêştirga (ku), canhêştir (ku), zirafe (ku) Kyrgyz: жираф (jiraf), акыра (akıra) Laalaa: njabala Lao: ກວາງຄໍຍາວ (lo) (kuāng khǭ nyāo) Latin: camelopardalis (la) f Latvian: žirafe f Lingala: díkálá class 9a/10a Lithuanian: žirafa (lt) f Luxembourgish: Giraff (lb) f Maasai: olmeut m Macedonian: жира́фа (mk) f (žiráfa) Malay: zirafah (ms) Malayalam: ജിറാഫ് (ml) (jiṟāphŭ) Māori: kakīroa Marathi: जिराफ m (jirāph) Melanau: Central Melanau: jirapah Mongolian: Cyrillic: анааш (mn) (anaaš) Mongolian script: ᠠᠨᠠᠰᠢ (anasi) Navajo: tsinlátah ayáanii Norman: girafe f Northern Sotho: thutlwa Norwegian: Bokmål: sjiraff (no) m Nynorsk: sjiraff m Occitan: girafa (oc) f Oromo: sattawwaa Pashto: زرافه (ps) f (zarāfá) Persian: زرّافه (fa) (zarrâfe), شترگاوپلنگ (fa) (šotorgâvpalang), زرناپا (zornâpâ) Middle Persian: 𐭥𐭱𐭲𐭫𐭢𐭠𐭥𐭯𐭫𐭭𐭢 (ʿštlgʾʿplng /⁠uštar-gāw-palang⁠/) Polish: żyrafa (pl) f Portuguese: girafa (pt) f Romanian: girafă (ro) f Romansh: giraffa f Russian: жира́ф (ru) m (žiráf), жира́фа (ru) f (žiráfa) (obsolete), гира́ф m (giráf) (obsolete) Samoan: serafa Sango: kôlo (sg) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: жира̀фа (sh) f Latin: žiràfa (sh) f Sicilian: jirafa f, zirafa f Sinhalese: ජිරාෆ් (jirāf) Slovak: žirafa (sk) f Slovene: žirafa (sl) f Somali: geri Sotho: thuhlo Spanish: jirafa (es) f Swahili: twiga (sw) Swedish: giraff (sv) c Sylheti: ꠎꠤꠞꠣꠚ (zirafó) Tagalog: hirapa Tajik: заррофа (tg) (zarrofa), шутурпаланг (šuturpalang) Tamil: ஒட்டகச்சிவிங்கி (ta) (oṭṭakacciviṅki) Telugu: జిరాఫీ (te) (jirāphī) Thai: ยีราฟ (th) (yii-ráap) Tigrinya: ዝዖታ (zəʿota), ዘራፍ (zäraf) Tongan: selafi Tooro: entwiga class 9 Tswana: thutlwa (tn) Turkish: zürafa (tr) Turkmen: žiraf (tk) Ukrainian: жира́фа f (žyráfa), жира́ф m (žyráf) Urdu: جراف m (jirāf), زرافہ (ur) (zarrāfe) Uyghur: زىراپە (zirape) Uzbek: jirafa (uz), zirofa (uz) Vietnamese: hươu cao cổ (vi) Volapük: giraf (vo) Welsh: jiráff m Wolof: njamala mi (wo) Xhosa: indlulamthi class 9/10 Yiddish: זשיראַף m (zhiraf) Zhuang: loeghozraez Zulu: indlulamithi (zu) class 9/10

Further reading

[edit]

• giraffe on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Giraffa on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category:Giraffa on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

[edit]

• riffage

Dutch

[edit]

Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:giraffeWikipedia nl

Etymology

[edit]

Possibly via German Giraffe, from Italian giraffa, from Arabic زَرَافَة (zarāfa).

Pronunciation

[edit]

• IPA(key): /ʒiˈrɑf/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: gi‧raf‧fe
• Rhymes: -ɑf

Noun

[edit]

giraffe f (plural giraffen or giraffes, diminutive giraffetje n or girafje n)

1. alternative spelling of giraf

French

[edit]

Pronunciation

[edit]

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

[edit]

giraffe f (plural giraffes)

1. archaic spelling of girafe

Italian

[edit]

Pronunciation

[edit]

• IPA(key): /d͡ʒiˈraf.fe/
• Rhymes: -affe
• Hyphenation: gi‧ràf‧fe

Noun

[edit]

giraffe f

1. plural of giraffa

Middle French

[edit]

Etymology

[edit] Etymology treeProto-Indo-European *ḱer-der.?Proto-Indo-European *-h₂der.?Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂-der.?Classical Persian زُرْنَا (zurnā)Proto-Indo-European *ped-Proto-Indo-European *-sProto-Indo-European *pṓdsProto-Indo-Iranian *pā́tsProto-Iranian *pā́dahOld Persian 𐎱𐎠𐎭 (p-a-d)Classical Persian پَا (pā)Classical Persian زُرْنَاپَا (zurnāpā)bor.Classical Syriac ܙܪܝܦܐ (zārīp̄ā)bor.Arabic زُرَافَة (zurāfa)bor.Italian giraffabor.Middle French giraffe

Borrowed from Italian giraffa.

Noun

[edit]

giraffe f (plural giraffes)

1. giraffe (mammal)

Descendants

[edit]

• French: girafe
  • → Bulgarian: жираф (žiraf), жирафа (žirafa)
  • → Catalan: girafa
  • → Luxembourgish: Giraff
  • → Polish: żyrafa
    • → Kashubian: żirafa
  • → Romanian: girafă
  • → Russian: жираф (žiraf), жира́фа (žiráfa) — dated, colloquial, жира́фъ (žiráf) — pre-1918 spelling
    • → Georgian: ჟირაფი (žirapi)
    • → Ingrian: žirafa
  • → Swedish: giraff
    • → Finnish: kirahvi
• → English: giraffe