How to Say Hippo in a Different Language

Have you ever wondered how to say Hippopotamus in another language? Well, wonder no more...

In many languages, the word translates to Water Horse, River Horse or Nile Horse. In a few languages (especially around the area of the Indian sub-continent), it means Water Elephant.

For some languages below, we have listed the translation in its native characters. If your browser can't handle this, it may just show ?????????.

credit for this idea goes to Bob Lehto

AcholiRaa
AfrikaansSeekoei
Albaniankali i nilit
American Sign Language (ASL)

For a video, visit
http://www.aslpro.com/cgi-bin/aslpro/aslpro.cgi

click on "H", then scroll down to "Hippopotamus"

“With each hand, make a fist and stick out the thumb and pinky fingers. Align the right hand on top of the left hand (palms facing each other). Move hands apart from each other in an up and down motion to simulate the opening and closing of the hippo’s jaws.”

AnuakRei
Arabic (#1)Grinti (in dispute)
Arabic (#2)Faras Al-Naher (Nahar?) (thx to Tareq Khorsheed--see note below)
Arabic (Egyptian dialect)Kalb el nil (dog of the Nile), or Sayyid ishta (Mr. Cream)
(thanks to Mary S)
Armenianbegemond (thx Albert, the king of fat)
avonhavonip~avono~pavonot~avona~mavonus
Azeri (language of Azerbaijan)begemot or hippopotam (thx Jakub)
Basquehipopotamo
Bemba (copperbelt region in Zambia)Imfubu (thx Helen in NZ)
BengaliJalahastha or Jahlto
BosnianPovodni konj (thx to Jase Allen)
Botswanasee entry for Setswana
Braille (thanks Danielle)
Bretondouvarc'h (thx Jen)
BulgarianKhipopotam
Catalanhipopòtam
ChilalaNourvu
ChineseMandarin: He Ma
Cantonese: Ho Ma; (thx to Carol)
(thanks Danielle)
Cockney ippo (thanks to Ian Hill)
Creolerivyechwal (thx to Cheyanne and Robyn)
CroatianNilski konj
CzechHroch
DanishFlodhest
DJ lopodopoHippolopodopomus (thx to Jenna)
Double Dutchhivogippovogopovogotovogmuvugus
DutchNijlpaard
Eggerishheggipeggoteggameggusegg (thx to "gibling")
EgyptianDeb (thanks Albin Forsell)
ElkshnishvowUmhibtowvawpottomottommustamoos
ElvenTogenta (from Scott R. "The History of Middle Earth Vol.1")
EnglishHippopotamus
Ernestishshmotamuss
EsperantoHipopotam
EstonianJõehobune
EthiopianHoboj
Farsiاسب ابى )ج.ش.(؛ كرگدن
FinnishVirtahepo
FrenchHippopotame
Frisian/FryskNylhoars
Gaeliceach-aibhne
Georgianbehemoti or hipopotami
GermanFlusspferd or Nilpferd
gibberishhippoglutean (thanks to Alex Fabian)
GreekΙπποπόταμοσ (thx to Louis Gatoulis the Greek God)
HawaiianHipopokamu
HebrewB'Hemot or Soos-Nahar
HindiJal Hasti or
Daryayi Ghoda (water horse)
thx to Ravindra in Mumbai
HungarianVizilo
IcelandicFlóðhestur (thx to Jóhann Páll Kristbjörnsson)
Idohipopotamo
IndonesianHippopotamus
ItalianIppopotamo
ittahitta~gip~itta~go~pitta~go~titta~ge~mittagus
JapaneseKaba (or kabba)
Justurtuntegleban (thanks Alex F.)
KazakhБегемот (behemot) (thx Jakub)
KenyanKiboko
KoreanHama
KrahnNimeh kla
Kreyolipopotam
Kurdiحەسپێ رووبار (Hespê rûbar)
LatinHippopotamus
LatvianNĪLZIRGS
Lingalangubú or kibɔ́kɔ (kiboko) (thx Jakub)
LithuanianHipopotamai (thx to Terra) or
Begemotas (thx to D Krinickas)
LugandaEnvubu
LuxembourgNilpärd (thx to Nadine MEISCH)
MacedonianНилскиот коњ
Magyarnílusi víziló
Maltese (language of Malta Europe)ippopotamu (thx Chris)
Malagasy (from Madagascar)Kilopilopitsofy "floppy ears"
(may be pygmy hippo)
(thx to Mary S)
MalayBadak Air (thx to abdul rahman)
Mandarin"huh-ma"
MongolАрмана (armana) or усны үхэр (usny ukher)
Min Nanhô-bé
NavajoTééhoołtsódii
NorwegianFlodhest (thanks Line Emilie Sverdrup)
Obhobippobo (thx Samantha)
Occitanipopotam
OppishHopippopopopotopamopus (thx to Jill)
Persian
Pig Latinippopotamus-hay (thanks, Spencer!)
PolishHipopotam
PortugueseHipopótamo
RomanianHipopotam (thx to Adrian Bradea)
Runa Simihatun mayu khuchi
Russian
(I have rec'd more emails on the Russian word for hippo than all other languages put together; there is something about Russian that makes translating "hippo" a challenge! See below for some of the emails I have received.)
âåçåíïô or çéððïðïôáí or гиппопотам (in Cyrillic);
Begamot, Gippopotam
(thx to Sasha Morozov)
Serbo-CroatianNilski Konj (thx Jovica & Danielle)
Setswana (language of Botswana)Kubu (thx to Pete Smith)
Shona (Zimbabwean local dialect)Mvuu (thanks to Helen)
Sinhalahaipotaembasamba
SlovakHroch (thanks to Miroslav Sedivy)
SlovenianNilski Konj (thx to andraz)
SpanishHipopótamo
SwahiliKiboko
SwedishFlodhäst
Tagalog (Phillipines)Hippopotamus
TamilNeer Yanai
Thaiปโปโปเตมัส
Tibetancharto (thx Jakub)
TojikiБаҳмут (bakhmut)
Tshivenda
Mbvuvhu (thx to Josina Matsepa / Tshilidzi)
TurkishSuaygiri or Hipopotam (thx to Zeynep Durak)
Ubby Dubbyhibippopabatabumubus (thanks to sctr563)
UkrainianГўпопотам
Urduدریائی گھوڑا
VietnameseHà Mã (thx to vlrulz)
Medieval WelshYpotame (thx to Moss Bliss)
ZuluMvubu or Imvubu (removed Boma Jan 2007)
(see below notes)