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• hippo
  hippo

  noun

  hippopotamus.
• Hippo
  Hippo

  noun

  Hippo Regius.
• hippo-
  hippo-

  a combining form appearing in loanwords from Greek, where it meant “horse” (hippodrome ); on this model, used in the formation of compound words (hippology ).

hippo

¹ American  

[hip-oh] / ˈhɪp oʊ /

noun

Informal.

hippos plural

1. hippopotamus.

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Hippo ² American  

[hip-oh] / ˈhɪp oʊ /

noun

1. Hippo Regius.

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hippo- ³ American  

1. a combining form appearing in loanwords from Greek, where it meant “horse” (hippodrome ); on this model, used in the formation of compound words (hippology ).

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hippo British  

/ ˈhɪpəʊ /

noun

1. short for hippopotamus

2. an armoured police car

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• hippos
  plural

Etymology

Origin of hippo¹

By shortening

Origin of hippo-³

< Greek: combining form of híppos; cognate with Latin equus, Old Irish ech, Old English eoh, Sanskrit aśvas, Lithuanian ašvà

Explanation

A hippo is a very large African mammal that lives both in and out of the water. Adult hippos can weigh well over 3,000 pounds. Hippos are the third-largest land mammals (after elephants and rhinos), and of the three, they are by far the most aggressive and territorial. These gray, hairless, barrel-shaped animals resemble enormous pigs, but they're more closely related to whales and dolphins. Hippo is shorthand for hippopotamus, a word that derives from the Greek ho hippos potamios, "the horse of the river."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hippo Hippo hippo- hippos

After being rescued, the baby hippo spent its first night at a nursery in the capital Nairobi, being fed on milk and swaddled in a blanket.

From BBC ● May 6, 2026

Sotheby’s expected its Lalanne hippo copper bar cart to sell for up to $10 million last month.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025

Goat, hippo and duck-shaped hot air balloons floated in clear blue skies over war-ravaged Myanmar this week in a rare opportunity for escapism.

From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2025

"Therefore, we should re-analyze other continental European hippo fossils traditionally attributed to the last interglacial period."

From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2025

Hoping it wasn’t a hippo, I crept into the bushes.

From "My Life with the Chimpanzees" by Jane Goodall

In northeastern Annaba -- formerly the ancient Roman city of Hippo -- Leo will visit vestiges of the city's historical past, as well as a reception centre run by Catholic nuns for impoverished elderly people.

From Barron's ● Apr. 14, 2026

When Augustine died in 430, the Vandals, a barbarian people who had crossed the Rhine decades earlier and already fought their way through Gaul and Iberia, had reached the gates of Hippo.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025

Dug’s head is so massive that, with the rest of his body mostly underwater, he resembled a blond, furry Hippo cutting through the water’s surface.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2025

Astro-JJR Hippo Suzuki rider Richardson grew up in the town of Lower Hutt, just north of Wellington on New Zealand's north Island, before moving to the UK.

From BBC ● May 6, 2025

Both of us are too weak to swim the river at Hippo Pool--to say nothing of crocodiles.

From The Fire-Gods A Tale of the Congo by Gilson, Charles

Lastly, he was to wind them up by appearing in his favourite character of Mr. William Button, of Tooley Street, in 'the highly novel and laughable hippo- comedietta of The Tailor's Journey to Brentford.'

From Hard Times by Dickens, Charles

The prefix hippo- comes from the Greek word for "horse".

From The Faerie Queene — Volume 01 by Spenser, Edmund

Both are expected to be released when they grow up to join other hippos living in the wild.

From BBC ● May 6, 2026

Coachella veterans were chuffed to hit the grounds and see “Network Operations,” the long-awaited return of Dedo Vabo’s hippos.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2026

Judy, the first rabbit to join the city's police force, has proven to her macho colleagues — buffaloes, hippos, and warthogs — that she deserves her place in the investigative department.

From Barron's ● Nov. 25, 2025

Fossil evidence also revealed that these warm-adapted hippos lived alongside cold-climate animals such as mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses -- an unusual ecological mix that highlights the complexity of Ice Age environments.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2025

The elephants were fading, and some were even starting to look like hippos.

From "Fourth Grade Rats" by Jerry Spinelli