eland

American  

[ee-luhnd] / ˈi lənd /

noun

elands, plural eland plural

1. either of two large African antelopes of the genus Taurotragus, having long, spirally twisted horns: now rare.

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eland British  

/ ˈiːlənd /

noun

1. a large spiral-horned antelope, Taurotragus oryx, inhabiting bushland in eastern and southern Africa. It has a dewlap and a hump on the shoulders and is light brown with vertical white stripes

2. a similar but larger animal, T. derbianus, living in wooded areas of central and W Africa

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• elands
  plural
• eland
  plural

Etymology

Origin of eland

First recorded in 1780–90; from Afrikaans, from Dutch eland “elk” ( Middle Dutch elen, elant ), from early modern German Elen(d), probably from Lithuanian éllenis (now élnis; akin to Old Church Slavonic jelenĭ “stag”) or an Old Prussian equivalent; akin to elk

Example Sentences

For instance, rock art in Zimbabwe mainly depicts kudu antelopes, she says, whereas similar San sites in nearby South Africa focus on another antelope, the eland.

From Science Magazine • Nov. 27, 2024

I thought of the eland that Sacks had seen, as a child, emerging from the ceiling of the cave.

From The New Yorker • Mar. 18, 2019

These include buffalos, chimpanzees, forest elephants, leopards, lions and the icon of this park, the giant eland – an imposing antelope.

From The Guardian • Aug. 16, 2018

The timber wolf, the bison and the eland all experienced T. R.’s dead aim, although the giant polar bear rug in the otherwise feminine drawing room came courtesy of Robert Peary, the Arctic explorer.

From New York Times • Jul. 9, 2015

“The older brother ran ahead. He came upon a dead eland and immediately cut it up into steaks. ‘How could you be so foolish?’ cried Biri when she saw what he had done.

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer