oliphant

O1L1I1P3H4A1N1T1

noun

An elephant.

OriginMiddle English olifaunt ← Anglo-Norman oliphant ← Old French oliphant →
UncommonScrabble 13
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

oliphant1

nounoliphant (plural oliphants)

plural oliphants · alternative olifant · alternative olyfaunte · alternative olyphant · alternative oliphaunt

  1. archaichistoricalAn elephant.

    She [Diana] hath ſent (to plague vs) a huge ſauadge Boare, Of an vn-meaſured height and magnitude. […] His briſtles poynted like a range of pikes Ranck't on his backe: his foame ſnowes where he feeds His tuskes are like the Indian Oliphants.

    1613, Thomas Heywood, The Brazen Age, […], London: […] Nicholas Okes, […], →OCLC, Act II, signature [C4], verso
  2. An ancient ivory hunting-horn.

Oliphant2

proper noun
  1. A surname.

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekἐλέφας“ivory, elephant”
  2. Latinelephantus“elephant”
  3. Old Frencholiphant“ivory, elephant, musical horn of ivory”
  4. Anglo-Normanoliphant“ivory, elephant”
  5. Middle Englisholifaunt
  6. Englisholiphant

From Middle English olifaunt, from Anglo-Norman oliphant (“ivory, elephant”) and Old French oliphant (“ivory, elephant, musical horn of ivory”), from Latin elephantus (“elephant”), from Ancient Greek ἐλέφας (eléphas, “ivory, elephant”).

More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Old French

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

oliphant. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oliphant

MLA

“oliphant.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oliphant. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “oliphant,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oliphant.

Source: oliphant on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.