mammoth
UK[ˈmæməθ]US[ˈmæməθ]
n
A very large type of elephant with long curved tusks and thick hair, that lived thousands of years ago.
adj
Extremely large; huge.
Etymology
The word 'mammoth' entered English in the early 17th century from the Russian 'mamont', likely derived from a Siberian language, possibly from a phrase meaning "earth horn". This name referred to the animal's remains, particularly its giant tusks, which were found preserved in the Siberian permafrost. The term was initially used only as a noun for the extinct elephant. By the early 19th century, its association with immense size led to its figurative use as an adjective describing anything colossal, completing its semantic journey from a specific fossil discovery to a general metaphor for vast scale.
Analysis
The word is a simplex loanword. Its spelling and form were adopted as a whole from Russian.
Examples
Woolly mammoths once roamed the icy plains of the Northern Hemisphere.
The company undertook a mammoth task of digitizing the entire archive.
Scientists are studying mammoth DNA to understand why they became extinct.