# hippopotamus

Pronunciation: say "hip-uh-POT-uh-muhs" US /ˌhɪp.əˈpɑ.tə.məs/, UK /ˌhɪp.əˈpɒt.ə.məs/

## Noun

1. A very large, plant-eating African mammal with thick skin, short legs, and a huge mouth, that spends much of its time in rivers and lakes; especially the common hippopotamus, Hippopotamus amphibius, of the family Hippopotamidae.
   - Simple: A very large, heavy African animal with a huge mouth that spends most of the day in rivers and lakes.
   - _The hippopotamus is among the most dangerous large animals in Africa._
   - _By day a hippopotamus stays submerged in the river, grazing on land only after dark._

## Origin

Ancient Greek hippopótamos joined híppos ("horse") and potamós ("river"). English took it from Latin and New Latin hippopotamus, and it pushed out the older English word nicker, from Old English nicor.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/hippopotamus (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).