Chinese

Noun

河馬

1. hippopotamus; hippo

Derived terms

Descendants

Japanese

Etymology

河 ‎(ka, “river”) +‎ 馬 ‎(ba, “horse”)

河馬 (カバ)

Pronunciation

• On'yomi: Kan'on
• (Tokyo) か​ば [káꜜbà] (Atamadaka - [1])^[1][2]
• IPA^(key): [ka̠ba̠]
• Homophones: 樺, 蒲, カバ

Noun

河馬 ‎(hiragana かば, katakana カバ, romaji kaba)

1. hippopotamus

Usage notes

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana in biological contexts, as カバ.

References

1. ↑ 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
2. ↑ 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3

Korean

Noun

河馬 • ‎(hama) ‎(hangeul 하마)

1. Hanja form^? of 하마, “hippopotamus”.

Vietnamese

Noun

河馬

1. Hán tự form of hà mã, “hippopotamus”