hippopotamus

Where does the word "hippopotamus" come from? It comes from Greek hippos, passing through Greek and Latin before entering English (1600s).

Hippopotamus’s story begins in Greek: hippos meant “horse.” Horse, combined with potamos (river) to name the river animal. Within Greek, it grew into hippopotamos by ancient. River horse, describing the large aquatic mammal. From there it passed into Latin as hippopotamus by ancient. Carried into Latin for the large aquatic mammal. It reached English by 1600s as hippopotamus. Settled as the English word for the large river-dwelling mammal. Today, hippopotamus means a large, thick-skinned African mammal that lives in and near rivers.

1. Stage 1 · Greek · ancient hippos "horse", horse, combined with potamos (river) to name the river animal.
2. Stage 2 · Greek · ancient hippopotamos "river horse", river horse, describing the large aquatic mammal.
3. Stage 3 · Latin · ancient hippopotamus "the large aquatic mammal", carried into Latin for the large aquatic mammal.
4. Stage 4 · English · 1600s hippopotamus "a large, thick-skinned river-dwelling mammal", settled as the English word for the large river-dwelling mammal.