hippo
noun
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hippo
1 American
[hip-oh]
/ ˈhɪp oʊ /
noun
Informal.
-
hippos
plural
Hippo
2
American
[hip-oh]
/ ˈhɪp oʊ /
noun
hippo-
3
American
hippo
British
/ ˈhɪpəʊ /
noun
-
short for hippopotamus
-
an armoured police car
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In Zambia’s Kafue National Park, Ila Safari Lodge, owned by Green Safaris, has its own solar-powered boat, which is used for expeditions in search of hippo pods and Nile crocodiles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
The hippo liked it there, so it took a while to extract the animal from the muddy waters to the delight of the locals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
In October 2025, the wildlife park welcomed Haggis the pygmy hippo, who now has a large social media following.
From BBC ● May 5, 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
So I stepped out into the hippo tunnel and said, “Jambo”—“How are you?”
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
About thirty miles from Hippo, at a farm called Victoriana, there was a memorial to the two martyrs Protavius and Gervasius.
From Supernatural Religion, Vol. I. (of III) An Inquiry into the Reality of Divine Revelation by Walter Richard Cassels
The prefix hippo- comes from the Greek word for "horse".
From The Faerie Queene — Volume 01 by Edmund Spenser
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 Charles Dickens
Both are expected to be released when they grow up to join other hippos living in the wild.
From BBC ● May 6, 2026
Past installments have seen the hippos found a power company, join the space race and tank the stock market.
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
A new analysis of ancient bones shows that hippos lived in the Upper Rhine Graben between about 47,000 and 31,000 years ago, during the depths of the last ice age.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2025
The hippos floated far and near, unmoved by Nhamo’s threats.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
