giraffe

See also: Giraffe

English

Giraffe (sense 1)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂-der.?

Classical Persian سرنا

Proto-Indo-European *ped-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *pṓds

Proto-Indo-Iranian *pā́ts

Proto-Iranian *pā́dah

Old Persian 𐎱𐎠𐎭 (p-a-d)

Classical Persian پَا (pā)

Classical Persian زُرْنَاپَا (zurnāpā)bor.

Classical Syriac ܙܪܝܦܐbor.

Arabic زُرَافَة (zurāfa)bor.

Italian giraffabor.

Middle French giraffebor.

English giraffe

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

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːf

Noun

giraffe (plural giraffes or giraffe)

2. A ruminant, of the genus Giraffa, of the African savannah with long legs and highly elongated neck, which make it 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

3. A giraffe unicycle.
4. (Cockney rhyming slang) A laugh.

   Synonyms: bubble bath, bubble

   Are you having a giraffe?!

5. (Internet slang, uncommon) A very tall individual.

Derived terms

• Angolan giraffe (Giraffa giraffa angolensis)
• Baringo giraffe
• forest giraffe
• giraffe bread
• giraffe gazelle (Litocranius walleri)
• giraffelike
• giraffe piano
• giraffe seahorse
• giraffe sheep
• giraffe weevil (Trachelophorus giraffa)
• giraffish
• 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

mammal

• Afar: gari
• Afrikaans: kameelperd (af)
• Albanian: gjirafë (sq)
• Amharic: ቀጭኔ (ḳäč̣ne)
• 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
• Central Melanau: jirapah
• Cherokee: ᏗᎦᎵᏍᏚᎩᏍᎩ (digalisdugisgi)
• Cheyenne: tsėhe'ėsenotováhe
• Chichewa: nyamalikiti, nswala
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 長頸鹿 / 长颈鹿 (coeng⁴ geng² luk⁶, coeng⁴ geng² luk^6-2)

  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
• Egyptian: (mmj)
• Erzya: дуебабри (dujebabŕi)
• 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: καμηλοπάρδαλις f (kamēlopárdalis)

• Guerrero Amuzgo: kió' xtyo' tkò
• Gujarati: જિરાફ (jirāph)
• Hadza: zzókwanako, háwayii (triumphal name)
• Haitian Creole: jiraf
• Hawaiian: kamelopaki
• Hebrew: גִ׳ירָף m (jiraf)
• 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
• 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
• Lithuanian: žirafa (lt) f
• Luxembourgish: Giraff (lb) f
• Maasai: olmeut m
• Macedonian: жира́фа (mk) f (žiráfa)
• Malay: zirafah (ms)
• Malayalam: ജിറാഫ് (ml) (jiṟāphŭ)
• Maori: kakīroa
• Middle Persian: 𐭥𐭱𐭲𐭫𐭢𐭠𐭥𐭯𐭫𐭭𐭢 (ʿštlgʾʿplng /⁠uštar-gāw-palang⁠/)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: анааш (mn) (anaaš)

  Mongolian: 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)
• Polish: żyrafa (pl) f
• Portuguese: girafa (pt) f
• Romanian: girafă (ro) f
• Romansch: giraffa f
• Russian: жира́ф (ru) m (žiráf), жира́фа (ru) f (žiráfa) (obsolete), гира́ф m (giráf) (obsolete)
• Samoan: serafa
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: жира̀фа f

  Roman: 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

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

Anagrams

• riffage

Dutch

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʒiˈrɑf/

• Audio:

  (file)

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

Noun

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

1. Alternative spelling of giraf

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

giraffe f (plural giraffes)

1. Archaic spelling of girafe.

Italian

Pronunciation

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

Noun

giraffe f

1. plural of giraffa

Middle French

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂-der.?

Classical Persian سرنا

Proto-Indo-European *ped-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *pṓds

Proto-Indo-Iranian *pā́ts

Proto-Iranian *pā́dah

Old Persian 𐎱𐎠𐎭 (p-a-d)

Classical Persian پَا (pā)

Classical Persian زُرْنَاپَا (zurnāpā)bor.

Classical Syriac ܙܪܝܦܐbor.

Arabic زُرَافَة (zurāfa)bor.

Italian giraffabor.

Middle French giraffe

Borrowed from Italian giraffa.

Noun

giraffe f (plural giraffes)

1. giraffe (mammal)

Descendants

• French: girafe
  • → Catalan: girafa
  • → Luxembourgish: Giraff
  • → Polish: żyrafa
  • → Romanian: girafă f
  • → Russian: жираф (žiraf)
    • → Georgian: ჟირაფი (žirapi)
    • → Ingrian: žirafa
  • → Swedish: giraff
    • → Finnish: kirahvi
• → English: giraffe