Pronunciation: ' e-l ə -f ə nt
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural elephants also elephant
Usage: often attrib
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French olifant, elefant, from L. elephantus, from Greek elephant-, elephas
Date: 14th century
1 : any of a family (Elephantidae, the elephant family) of thickset usually extremely large nearly hairless herbivorous mammals that have a snout elongated into a muscular trunk and two incisors in the upper jaw developed especially in the male into large ivory tusks and that include two living forms and various extinct relatives: as a : a tall large-eared mammal ( Loxodonta africana ) of tropical Africa ― called also African elephant b : a relatively small-eared mammal ( Elephas maximus ) of forests of southeastern Asia ― called also Asian elephant Indian elephant
2 : an animal or fossil related to the elephants
3 : one that is uncommonly large or hard to manage
elephant: 1 African, 2 Asian