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

Noun Inflected Forms

• eland
  plural
• elands
  plural

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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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

eland elands

They argue that by painting the eland, the San were attempting to harness the antelope’s spiritual powers to summon more of them to appear during a time of scarcity.

From Science Magazine ● Nov. 27, 2024

The two eland or kudu promised by Samora would do a much better job.

From Slate ● Jan. 30, 2021

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

Biri, a famous rain priestess, and her two brothers had founded the eland clan.

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer

"The Ministry will contribute 723 animals comprising 30 hippos, 60 buffalos, 50 impalas, 100 blue wilderbeast, 300 zebras, 83 elephants and 100 elands," the Namibian Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism said in a statement.

From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2024

By night, they dined on the meat of elands, impalas, warthogs and other animals in an African safari experience.

From US News ● Sep. 2, 2015

To reach that conclusion, anthropologists began by about brain size and endurance capacity in a variety of mammals, including dogs, guinea pigs, foxes, mice, wolves, rats, civet cats, antelope, mongooses, goats, sheep and elands.

From New York Times ● Dec. 31, 2012

In between stretch 500 miles of open meadow and sparse forest filled with elephants, gazelles, elands, lions and leopards.

From Time Magazine Archive

Except in the bongo and elands, horns are present only in the males, and these are angulated and generally spirally twisted, and without rings.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 2 "Anjar" to "Apollo" by Various

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