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
| Acholi | Raa |
| Afrikaans | Seekoei |
| Albanian | kali i nilit |
| American Sign Language (ASL) For a video, visit | “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.” |
| Anuak | Rei |
| 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) |
| Armenian | begemond (thx Albert, the king of fat) |
| avon | havonip~avono~pavonot~avona~mavonus |
| Azeri (language of Azerbaijan) | begemot or hippopotam (thx Jakub) |
| Basque | hipopotamo |
| Bemba (copperbelt region in Zambia) | Imfubu (thx Helen in NZ) |
| Bengali | Jalahastha or Jahlto |
| Bosnian | Povodni konj (thx to Jase Allen) |
| Botswana | see entry for Setswana |
| Braille |  (thanks Danielle) |
| Breton | douvarc'h (thx Jen) |
| Bulgarian | Khipopotam |
| Catalan | hipopòtam |
| Chilala | Nourvu |
| Chinese | Mandarin: He Ma Cantonese: Ho Ma; (thx to Carol)  (thanks Danielle) |
| Cockney | ippo (thanks to Ian Hill) |
| Creole | rivyechwal (thx to Cheyanne and Robyn) |
| Croatian | Nilski konj |
| Czech | Hroch |
| Danish | Flodhest |
| DJ lopodopo | Hippolopodopomus (thx to Jenna) |
| Double Dutch | hivogippovogopovogotovogmuvugus |
| Dutch | Nijlpaard |
| Eggerish | heggipeggoteggameggusegg (thx to "gibling") |
| Egyptian | Deb (thanks Albin Forsell) |
| Elkshnishvow | Umhibtowvawpottomottommustamoos |
| Elven | Togenta (from Scott R. "The History of Middle Earth Vol.1") |
| English | Hippopotamus |
| Ernestish | shmotamuss |
| Esperanto | Hipopotam |
| Estonian | Jõehobune |
| Ethiopian | Hoboj |
| Farsi | اسب ابى )ج.ش.(؛ كرگدن |
| Finnish | Virtahepo |
| French | Hippopotame |
| Frisian/Frysk | Nylhoars |
| Gaelic | each-aibhne |
| Georgian | behemoti or hipopotami |
| German | Flusspferd or Nilpferd |
| gibberish | hippoglutean (thanks to Alex Fabian) |
| Greek | Ιπποπόταμοσ (thx to Louis Gatoulis the Greek God) |
| Hawaiian | Hipopokamu |
| Hebrew | B'Hemot or Soos-Nahar |
| Hindi | Jal Hasti or Daryayi Ghoda (water horse) thx to Ravindra in Mumbai |
| Hungarian | Vizilo |
| Icelandic | Flóðhestur (thx to Jóhann Páll Kristbjörnsson) |
| Ido | hipopotamo |
| Indonesian | Hippopotamus |
| Italian | Ippopotamo |
| itta | hitta~gip~itta~go~pitta~go~titta~ge~mittagus |
| Japanese | Kaba (or kabba) |
| Justurt | untegleban (thanks Alex F.) |
| Kazakh | Бегемот (behemot) (thx Jakub) |
| Kenyan | Kiboko |
| Korean | Hama |
| Krahn | Nimeh kla |
| Kreyol | ipopotam |
| Kurdi | حەسپێ رووبار (Hespê rûbar) |
| Latin | Hippopotamus |
| Latvian | NĪLZIRGS |
| Lingala | ngubú or kibɔ́kɔ (kiboko) (thx Jakub) |
| Lithuanian | Hipopotamai (thx to Terra) or Begemotas (thx to D Krinickas) |
| Luganda | Envubu |
| Luxembourg | Nilpärd (thx to Nadine MEISCH) |
| Macedonian | Нилскиот коњ |
| Magyar | nílusi víziló |
| Maltese (language of Malta Europe) | ippopotamu (thx Chris) |
| Malagasy (from Madagascar) | Kilopilopitsofy "floppy ears" (may be pygmy hippo) (thx to Mary S) |
| Malay | Badak Air (thx to abdul rahman) |
| Mandarin | "huh-ma" |
| Mongol | Армана (armana) or усны үхэр (usny ukher) |
| Min Nan | hô-bé |
| Navajo | Tééhoołtsódii |
| Norwegian | Flodhest (thanks Line Emilie Sverdrup) |
| Ob | hobippobo (thx Samantha) |
| Occitan | ipopotam |
| Oppish | Hopippopopopotopamopus (thx to Jill) |
| Persian |              |
| Pig Latin | ippopotamus-hay (thanks, Spencer!) |
| Polish | Hipopotam |
| Portuguese | Hipopótamo |
| Romanian | Hipopotam (thx to Adrian Bradea) |
| Runa Simi | hatun 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-Croatian | Nilski Konj (thx Jovica & Danielle) |
| Setswana (language of Botswana) | Kubu (thx to Pete Smith) |
| Shona (Zimbabwean local dialect) | Mvuu (thanks to Helen) |
| Sinhala | haipotaembasamba |
| Slovak | Hroch (thanks to Miroslav Sedivy) |
| Slovenian | Nilski Konj (thx to andraz) |
| Spanish | Hipopótamo |
| Swahili | Kiboko |
| Swedish | Flodhäst |
| Tagalog (Phillipines) | Hippopotamus |
| Tamil | Neer Yanai |
| Thai | ปโปโปเตมัส |
| Tibetan | charto (thx Jakub) |
| Tojiki | Баҳмут (bakhmut) |
| Tshivenda | Mbvuvhu (thx to Josina Matsepa / Tshilidzi) |
| Turkish | Suaygiri or Hipopotam (thx to Zeynep Durak) |
| Ubby Dubby | hibippopabatabumubus (thanks to sctr563) |
| Ukrainian | Гўпопотам |
| Urdu | دریائی گھوڑا |
| Vietnamese | Hà Mã (thx to vlrulz) |
| Medieval Welsh | Ypotame (thx to Moss Bliss) |
| Zulu | Mvubu or Imvubu (removed Boma Jan 2007) (see below notes) |
