okapi
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
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
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:
The okapi is the closest living relative of which African animal?
From Slate ● Jun. 16, 2023
Some of those ancestors wandered toward the rain forest and present-day Congo and eventually gave rise to the okapi.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 19, 2023
Discokeryx likely resembled an okapi, a forest-dwelling cousin of modern giraffes.
From New York Times ● Jun. 2, 2022
She says only about 20 to 25 other U.S. zoos exhibit okapi.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 4, 2017
Then, in the 1920s, when elsewhere in the world the menfolk took a break between wars to perfect the airplane and the automobile, a white man finally did set eyes on the okapi.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
In the rain forest, okapis were able to survive and thrive with perfectly fine albeit unspectacular necks.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 19, 2023
Rosmarie Ruf, of Gilman International Conservation, estimated that in the 1990s there were 5,000 okapis in the rainforest.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 31, 2013
The zoo had been established 25 years ago to house a small number of the timid and endangered okapis that are the familiar image of Congo's diverse fauna.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 31, 2013
Because okapis are easily spooked, curators forgo neonatal exams on the calf.
From New York Times ● Nov. 7, 2011
Matt Hohne, the animal operations director for Disney’s animal programs, said okapis didn’t lure many visitors to the park, but tended to leave an impression.
From New York Times ● Nov. 7, 2011
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.
