krokodili

See also: krokodilí

Esperanto

FWOTD – 10 September 2016

"Ne krokodilu" sign

Etymology

From krokodilo (“crocodile”) +‎ -i. The origin of the expression is unclear. Several suggestions have been made:

• From the fact that crocodiles' extremely large mouths make an apt comparison for carelessly flapping one's jaws without consideration.
• Ferrari, an Esperantist in Paris in the 1930s, would comment Kion volas tiuj krokodiloj? (What do those crocodiles want?) when noisy non-Esperantists entered the cafe where he was speaking Esperanto with friends.
• Students of Andreo Cseh. When Cseh taught Esperanto, students were only allowed to speak their native language when they were holding a wooden crocodile he always brought with him.

The latter two may be allusions to the idiom rather than its source.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [krokoˈdili]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ili
• Hyphenation: kro‧ko‧di‧li

Verb

krokodili (present krokodilas, past krokodilis, future krokodilos, conditional krokodilus, volitive krokodilu)

1. (intransitive, slang) to speak among Esperantists in a language besides Esperanto, especially one's native language or a language not spoken by everyone present (literally, "to crocodile")
   • 2001 April, Hori Yasuo, “Kron-Put: Vjetnama bambua muzikilo”, in Monato, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 27:

     Miaj geamikoj, krokodilante, decidis mendojn.

     My friends, speaking their native language, decided on [food] orders.

Conjugation

Conjugation of krokodili

		present		past		future
		singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural
tense		krokodilas		krokodilis		krokodilos
active participle		krokodilanta	krokodilantaj	krokodilinta	krokodilintaj	krokodilonta	krokodilontaj
	acc.	krokodilantan	krokodilantajn	krokodilintan	krokodilintajn	krokodilontan	krokodilontajn
nominal active participle		krokodilanto	krokodilantoj	krokodilinto	krokodilintoj	krokodilonto	krokodilontoj
	acc.	krokodilanton	krokodilantojn	krokodilinton	krokodilintojn	krokodilonton	krokodilontojn
adverbial active participle		krokodilante		krokodilinte		krokodilonte

infinitive		krokodili						imperative		krokodilu						conditional		krokodilus

Antonyms

• malkrokodili (“to speak in Esperanto among non-Esperanto speakers”)

Ido

Noun

krokodili

1. plural of krokodilo