/ dʒəˈrɑːf; NAmE -ˈræf/ noun
( pl. gir·affe or gir·affes ) a tall African animal with a very long neck, long legs, and dark marks on its coat
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WORD ORIGIN
late 16th cent.: from French girafe , Italian giraffa , or Spanish and Portuguese girafa , based on Arabic zarāfa . The animal was known in Europe in the medieval period, and isolated instances of names for it based on the Arabic are recorded in Middle English , when it was commonly called the camelopard. .