gavial

English

A gavial

Wikispecies

Alternative forms

• gharial, gharrial, ghavial

Etymology

From Hindi घड़ियाल (ghaṛiyāl). Doublet of gharial.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡeɪ.vi.əl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

gavial (plural gavials)

1. The crocodilian Gavialis gangeticus; any species of the family Gavialidae.
   • 2002, Pierre-Henri Gouyon, Jean-Pierre Henry, Jacques Arnould, “Gene Avatars: The Neo-Darwinian Theory of Evolution”, in Tiiu Ojasoo, transl., [1997, Les avatars du gène: La théorie néodarwinienne de l'évolution], page 28:

     Cuvier had begun studying the fossils of crocodiles found near Caen and Honfleur in France. (They were, in fact, gavials, fine-jawed crocodiles that are nowadays found in India).

   • 2006, Lynn Huggins-Cooper, Ravenous Reptiles, page 19:

     Although human remains and jewelry have been found in their stomachs, gavials are not as fierce as many alligators and crocodiles.

   • 2011, Joseph T. Springer, Dennis Holley, An Introduction to Zoology: Investigating the Animal World, page 415:

     Gavials (or gharials) are found only on the northern Indian subcontinent, where most are riverine, being best adapted to calmer areas in deep fast-flowing rivers.

Usage notes

Technically, extending the definition to family Gavialidae results in including just one other extant species: the false gavial (Tomistoma schlegelii). However, the subfamily Tomistominae is often (perhaps usually) excluded from Gavialidae.

Synonyms

• (Gavialis gangeticus): fish-eating crocodile, gharial, Indian gharial
• (any species of Gavialidae): gavialid

Derived terms

• false gavial (Tomistoma schlegelii)

Related terms

• gavialid

Translations

crocodilian of genus Gavialis

• Arabic: جَرَال (jarāl), جَافِيال (jāfiyāl)
• Assamese: ঘঁৰিয়াল (ghõrial)
• Baluchi: مل مچ (mal mac)
• Bengali: ঘড়িয়াল (bn) (ghoṛiẏal), ঘোড়েল (bn) (ghōṛel)
• Catalan: gavial (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 恆河鱷／恒河鳄 (zh) (hénghé'è), 食魚鱷／食鱼鳄 (zh) (shíyú'è), 印度食魚鱷／印度食鱼鳄 (yìndù shíyú'è), 印度鱷／印度鳄 (zh) (yìndù'è)

• Dutch: gaviaal (nl) c
• Finnish: gaviaali (fi), gangesingaviaali (fi)
• French: gavial du Gange m, gavial (fr) m
• German: Gangesgavial m, Gharial m, Gavial (de) m
• Gujarati: ઘડિયાલ (ghaḍiyāl)
• Hindi: घड़ियाल (hi) (ghaṛiyāl)
• Japanese: インドガビアル (ja) (indogabiaru), ガビアル (ja) (gabiaru)
• Khmer: ក្រពើផ្ទោង (krɑpəə ptoung)
• Malayalam: ചീങ്കണ്ണി (ml) (cīṅkaṇṇi), മീൻമുതല (mīṉmutala)
• Marathi: सुसर (susar)
• Navajo: táłkááʼ tsʼin bíchį́į́hnézí
• Nepali: घडियाल (ne) (ghaḍiyāl)
• Polish: gawial (pl) m
• Portuguese: gavial m
• Punjabi: ਘੜੀਆਲ (ghaṛī'āl)
• Russian: гавиа́л (ru) m (gaviál)
• Sindhi: گھڙيال (ghaṛiyālu)
• Spanish: gavial (es) m
• Swedish: gavial (sv) c
• Tamil: கரியால் (kariyāl)
• Tibetan: རེ་འབྱམས་མཆུ་རིང་། (re 'byams mchu ring)
• Urdu: گھڑیال (ghaṛiyāl)

See also

• caiman
• Gavialis

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from French gavial, from Hindi घड़ियाल (ghaṛiyāl, “alligator, crocodile”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ɡə.βiˈal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ɡə.viˈal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ɡa.viˈal]

Noun

gavial m (plural gavials)

1. gavial (Gavialis gangeticus)

Derived terms

• fals gavial

Further reading

• “gavial” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Hindi घड़ियाल (ghaṛiyāl, “alligator, crocodile”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

gavial m (plural gaviaux)

1. gavial

Further reading

• “gavial”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Romanian

Un gavial

Etymology

Borrowed from French gavial, from Hindi घड़ियाल (ghaṛiyāl, “alligator, crocodile”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡaviˈal/
• Hyphenation: ga‧vi‧al

Noun

gavial m (plural gaviali)

1. gavial

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	gavial	gavialul		gaviali	gavialii
genitive-dative	gavial	gavialului		gaviali	gavialilor
vocative	gavialule			gavialilor

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from French gavial, from Hindi घड़ियाल (ghaṛiyāl, “alligator, crocodile”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡaˈbjal/ [ɡaˈβ̞jal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: ga‧vial

Noun

gavial m (plural gaviales)

1. gavial, gharial

Further reading

• “gavial”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28