Is it hippopotamus or hippopotamuses?
One (Hippopotamus amphibius) of sub-Saharan Africa that has webbing between the toes, spends most of the day in or near water, and typically weighs between 3 to 4 tons (2700 to 3600 kilograms) Since the word hippopotamus comes from Greek instead of Latin, the correct pluralization would be hippopotamuses.
What is the plural of Hippo?
The New York Times also occasionally uses hippos, and although hippos sounds a little more informal, it’s a nice plural because it avoids the whole problem of which plural to use.
What is a pygmy hippopotamus called?
Hippopotamus is the type genus of the family Hippopotamidae. The pygmy hippopotamus belongs to a different genus in Hippopotamidae, either Choeropsis or Hexaprotodon.
What is the average size of a hippopotamus?
Hippos measure 2.90 to 5.05 m (9.5 to 16.6 ft) long, including a tail of about 35 to 56 cm (1.15 to 1.84 ft) in length and 1.30 to 1.65 m (4.3 to 5.4 ft) tall at the shoulder.
When was the word "hippopotamus" first used?
Where did hippos come from?
What is the word for multiple hippos?
Why a group of hippos is called a bloat - BBC Travel.
Is hippos plural or singular?
The plural form of hippo is hippos.
What is plural octopus?
Octopuses ✅ Octopuses may sound peculiar to some, but this is the preferred plural. It's also peculiar to debate octopuses when the octopus is a solitary creature.
Can you say hippopotami?
Break 'hippopotami' down into sounds: [HIP] + [UH] + [POT] + [UH] + [MY] - say it out loud and exaggerate the sounds until you can consistently produce them.
What is Platypus plural?
Answer. The plural of platypus is platypuses. Like most other nouns that end in –s, it takes –es to form the plural.
What is the plural of moose?
Despite what a certain honking bird whose singular form rhymes with that of "moose" might suggest, the plural of "moose" is not "meese." It's just "moose." One moose, three moose, a herd of moose.
What is plural for rhinoceros?
noun. rhi·noc·er·os | \ rī-ˈnäs-rəs , rə-, -ˈnä-sə- \ plural rhinoceroses also rhinoceros or rhinoceri\ rī-ˈnä-sə-ˌrī , rə- \
What's the plural of mongoose?
mongoose. noun. mon·goose | \ ˈmän-ˌgüs , ˈmäŋ-ˌgüs \ plural mongooses.
What is the plural of giraffe?
noun. gi·raffe | \ jə-ˈraf \ plural giraffes.
What is a group of octopus called?
The cephalopods do have eight tentacles and there may be three ways to describe a group of them, but only one is technically correct. Grammatically speaking, the plural for octopus is octopuses. As the Merriam-Webster dictionary points out, people use three different terms, however: octopi, octopuses, and octopodes.
What is the plural for deer?
deersnoun, plural deer, (occasionally) deers. any of several ruminants of the family Cervidae, most of the males of which have solid, deciduous antlers. any of the smaller species of this family, as distinguished from the moose, elk, etc.
What is the plural of ox?
ox /ˈɑːks/ noun. plural oxen /ˈɑːksən/ also ox.
What is the plural of hippopotamus?
The plural of hippopotamus is hippopotamuses or hippopotami . Hippopotamuses live in groups of up to thirty. Though they are bulky animals, hippopotami can gallop at 19 mph on land. Even though the noun hippopotamus has a Greek root, it is often assigned the Latin plural hippopotami.
Why is the plural of hippopotamus so confusing?
Confusion arises over the plural of hippopotamus because the erroneously assigned Latin plural hippopotami grew in popularity, most probably because it sounds funny and clever. Nowadays, however, native English speakers are more drawn to hippopotamuses, which adheres to the standard ruling for forming plurals.
Is "hippopotami" a joke?
It is therefore ironic that the term is based on an error. Hippopotami is also used by some as a joke plural.) The plural hippopotamuses (which adheres to the standard rules for forming plurals) is more common than hippopotami.
What is the plural of hippopotamus?
Here's the word you're looking for. The plural form of hippopotamus is hippopotamuses or hippopotami . Find more words! Initial genetic studies have provided evidence that the marine mammals are most closely related to hippopotamuses.
What are some examples of marine mammals?
Examples. Initial genetic studies have provided evidence that the marine mammals are most closely related to hippopotamuses. These creatures include fish, crocodiles, turtles, hippopotamuses, monkeys, rodents, and antelopes.
Where are hippopotamus found?
The species was common in Egypt 's Nile region during antiquity, but has since been extirpated. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best location in Egypt for capturing this animal was in the Saite nome; the animal could still be found along the Damietta branch after the Arab Conquest in 639. Reports of the slaughter of the last hippo in Natal Province were made at the end of the 19th century. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, north through to Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, west to The Gambia, and south to South Africa.
What is the genus of a pygmy hippopotamus?
Hippopotamus is the type genus of the family Hippopotamidae. The pygmy hippopotamus belongs to a different genus in Hippopotamidae, either Choeropsis or Hexaprotodon. Hippopotamidae are sometimes known as hippopotamids. Sometimes, the subfamily Hippopotaminae is used.
How long do hippopotamus stay in water?
This is an example of mutualism, in which the hippo benefits from the cleaning while the fish receive food. The hippos spend up to 16 hours a day in water as a way to stay cool. A hippopotamus and Nile crocodile side by side in Kruger National Park. Hippos coexist with a variety of large predators.
Why do hippos huddle together?
Studying the interaction of males and females has long been complicated because hippos are not sexually dimorphic; thus females and young males are almost indistinguishable in the field. Although hippos lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and they are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown. Hippos are territorial only in water, where a male presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 m (270 yd) in length, and containing 10 females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos. Younger bachelors are allowed in a male's stretch, as long as they behave submissively toward the male. The territories of hippos exist to establish mating rights. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by gender. Bachelors lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the male on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.
How fast can a hippos run?
Despite its stocky shape and short legs, it is capable of running 30 km/h (19 mp h) over short distances. Hippos inhabit rivers, lakes, and mangrove swamps, where territorial males preside over a stretch of river and groups of five to thirty females and young hippos.
What is the third largest land mammal?
After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third- largest type of land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl (in the traditional, non-cladistic sense of the term, not including cetaceans).
Where did hippos originate?
Hippos have long been popular zoo animals. The first record of hippos on captivity for display are dated to 3500 BC, in Hierakonpolis, Egypt. The first zoo hippo in modern history was Obaysch, who arrived at the London Zoo on 25 May 1850, where he attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day and inspired a popular song, the "Hippopotamus Polka". Hippos generally breed well in captivity; birth rates are lower than in the wild, but this is attributed to zoos wanting to limit births, since hippos are relatively expensive to maintain.
What is the Greek word for the horses of the river?
Well, “the horses of the river” in Greek would be “oi ippoi apo tou potamou”. Literally, “The horses from the river”. I guess “hippopotamus” is a compound word that is pluralized as its own entity.
Is "octopus" plural or singular?
It is a popular and well-known fact that the correct plural for “octopus” is not “octopi,” but “octopuses” or “octopodes.” This is because the word “octopus” is Greek in origin, not Latin, and the Greek word for the word “pos” (foot) is “podes.”
Is the word "hippopotamus" correct?
‘Hippoipotamus’ is strictly correct, I believe, but since many Greek words were incorporated into Latin in Ancient times, words with Greek roots can also be used with Latin inflections. The same can be said for ‘hippocampus’, of which there are two in the brain , so these should perhaps be known as the ‘hippoicampus’ but here too one sees ‘hippocampi’ written.
What is a hippopotamus?
: a large African animal that has an extremely large head and mouth and short legs and that spends most of its time in water. See the full definition for hippopotamus in the English Language Learners Dictionary.
How much does a hippopotamus weigh?
a : one (Hippopotamus amphibius) of sub-Saharan Africa that has webbing between the toes, spends most of the day in or near water, and typically weighs between 3 to 4 tons (2700 to 3600 kilograms) b : pygmy hippopotamus.
Do Latin words have plurals?
English words of Latin or Greek origin have rather unpredictable plurals, and each one usually depends on how well established that particular word is. It may also depend on whether the Latin or Greek form of the plural is either easily recognizable or pleasant to the speaker of English.
Is "octopus" a Latin word?
Octopus is not a simple Latin word of the second declension, but a Latinized form of the Greek word oktopous, and its ‘correct’ plural would logically be octopodes. Other words ending in -us show a very varied pattern.
Is "hippopotami" plural or singular?
Like octopi, the plural hippopotami is now generally taken to be either funny or absurdly pedantic, and the usual plural is hippopotamuses. Common usage appears to indicate a slight preference for termini rather than terminuses, but syllabuses rather than syllabi.
When was the word "hippopotamus" first used?
The first time that you can see the English word hippopotamus being used was back in 1542 . The word moves from Greek to Latin before it was used in the English language. This was was an alternative word from the Greek “hippos potamios” which meant riverine horse.
Where did hippos come from?
If you look back through history, there used to be many species of hippos roaming Africa. Interestingly enough they even made their way up from Africa and were scattered across Europe and Asia. The most northern hippo fossil to be discovered was in England, not exactly a place you would think a hippo would end up today.
