English → Latin
“elephant” in Latin
The English word elephant itself goes back to Latin elephantus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
elephant
elephas: elephantus (in all cases; the former in nominative only, so at least in Liv., Krebs): barrus (Hor. Carthaginian word).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for elephant?
- The usual Latin words for “elephant” are elephantus, barrus. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.