okapi

[oh-kah-pee]

noun, plural o·ka·pis, (especially collectively) o·ka·pi.

an African mammal, Okapia johnstoni, closely related to and resembling the giraffe, but smaller and with a much shorter neck.

Origin of okapi

1900; < Bambuba (Mvu’ba), a Central Sudanic language of the NE Democratic Republic of the Congo (or < a related Pygmy dial.), according to English Africanist Harry Johnston (1858–1927), author of the first zoological descriptions of the animal

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for okapi

Historical Examples of okapi

There were hunters from the forests of far-off Bongindanga where the okapi roams.
Bones
Edgar Wallace
An okapi is worth a hundred other animals of any kind that one can name.
With Airship and Submarine
Harry Collingwood
The Okapi lives in pairs in the deepest recesses of the forest.
The Cambridge Natural History, Vol X., Mammalia
Frank Evers Beddard
This creature, of which the native name is "Okapi," is proposed to be called Ocapia johnstoni.
The Cambridge Natural History, Vol X., Mammalia
Frank Evers Beddard
I am bitterly sorry and disappointed to be obliged to say it, but I think there can be no doubt that we have lost that okapi.
With Airship and Submarine
Harry Collingwood

British Dictionary definitions for okapi

okapi

noun plural -pis or -pi

a ruminant mammal, Okapia johnstoni, of the forests of central Africa, having a reddish-brown coat with horizontal white stripes on the legs and small horns: family Giraffidae

Word Origin for okapi

C20: from a Central African word

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for okapi

short-necked giraffe of central Africa, 1900, from the animal's name in Mbuba (Congo). Reported by English explorer Sir Harry Johnston (1858-1927).