What does éléphant in French mean?

What is the meaning of the word éléphant in French? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use éléphant in French.

The word éléphant in French means elephant, grandee, like a bull in a china shop, like a bull in a china shop, white elephant, sea elephant, elephant seal, pink elephant, flares, bell-bottoms, can't hit the broad side of a barn, be unable to hit the broad side of a barn. To learn more, please see the details below.

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Meaning of the word éléphant

elephant

(pachyderme à défenses)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
L'éléphant d'Asie a de plus petites oreilles que celui d'Afrique.
Asian elephants have smaller ears than African ones.

grandee

nom masculin (figuré (personne importante)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Cet homme politique est l'un des éléphants de son parti.
This politician is one of his party's grandees.

like a bull in a china shop

locution adjectivale (maladroit)

(expression: Prepositional phrase, adverbial phrase, or other phrase or expression--for example, "behind the times," "on your own.")

like a bull in a china shop

locution adverbiale (avec maladresse)

(expression: Prepositional phrase, adverbial phrase, or other phrase or expression--for example, "behind the times," "on your own.")

white elephant

nom masculin (figuré (projet coûteux non pertinent) (figurative)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

sea elephant, elephant seal

nom masculin (morse)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

pink elephant

nom masculin (figuré (hallucination) (figurative)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

flares, bell-bottoms

nom masculin (pantalon à larges patte en bas)

(plural noun: Noun always used in plural form--for example, "jeans," "scissors.")
Les pantalons à pattes d'éléphant ont fait succès dans les années 70.

can't hit the broad side of a barn, be unable to hit the broad side of a barn

locution verbale (péjoratif, figuré (manquer [qch] de flagrant) (colloquial)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Pierre voit tellement mal qu'il raterait un éléphant dans un couloir.
Pierre's eyesight is so bad that he couldn't even hit the broad side of a barn.

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French (le français) is a Romance language. Like Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, it comes from popular Latin, once used in the Roman Empire. A French-speaking person or country can be called a "Francophone". French is the official language in 29 countries. French is the fourth most spoken native language in the European Union. French ranks third in the EU, after English and German, and is the second most widely taught language after English. The majority of the world's French-speaking population lives in Africa, with about 141 million Africans from 34 countries and territories who can speak French as a first or second language. French is the second most widely spoken language in Canada, after English, and both are official languages at the federal level. It is the first language of 9.5 million people or 29% and the second language of 2.07 million people or 6% of the entire population of Canada. In contrast to other continents, French has no popularity in Asia. Currently, no country in Asia recognizes French as an official language.