See white elephant in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
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"etymology_text": "In Siam, elephants were working animals. However, white (albino) elephants were considered sacred and therefore were not to be put to work. The owner was then left to feed the elephant but could get no work from it. It is said that the King of Siam used to make a present of a white elephant to courtiers he wanted to ruin.",
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"sense": "an albino elephant",
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"_dis1": "99 1",
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"lang": "German",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
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"masculine"
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"_dis1": "99 1",
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"roman": "pil lavan",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
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"_dis1": "99 1",
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
"tags": [
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"word": "elefante bianco"
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"_dis1": "99 1",
"code": "mr",
"lang": "Marathi",
"roman": "saphed hattī",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
"tags": [
"masculine"
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"word": "सफेद हत्ती"
},
{
"_dis1": "99 1",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "biały słoń"
},
{
"_dis1": "99 1",
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "elefante branco"
},
{
"_dis1": "99 1",
"code": "pa",
"lang": "Punjabi",
"roman": "safaid hāthī",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "ਸਫ਼ੈਦ ਹਾਥੀ"
},
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"_dis1": "99 1",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "bélyj slon",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
"tags": [
"masculine"
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"word": "бе́лый слон"
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"_dis1": "99 1",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
"tags": [
"masculine"
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"word": "elefante blanco"
},
{
"_dis1": "99 1",
"code": "te",
"lang": "Telugu",
"roman": "airāvataṁ",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
"word": "ఐరావతం"
},
{
"_dis1": "99 1",
"code": "th",
"lang": "Thai",
"roman": "cháang-pʉ̀ʉak",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
"word": "ช้างเผือก"
},
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"_dis1": "99 1",
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"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
"word": "beyaz fil"
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"ref": "1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 140:",
"text": "South Australia's \"white elephant\" was really going to prove a valuable possession after all!",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2013 June 18, Simon Romero, “Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-06-21:",
"text": "Some of the stadiums being built for the World Cup soccer tournament, scheduled for next year, have also been criticized for delays and cost overruns, and have become subjects of derision as protesters question whether they will become white elephants.",
"type": "quote"
}
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[
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"(idiomatic) A possession that is unwanted or is a financial burden; an unprofitable investment."
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"_dis1": "1 99",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
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"word": "nutzloser Besitz"
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"_dis1": "1 99",
"code": "de",
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"sense": "unwanted possession, financial burden, unprofitable investment",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "nutzloser Gegenstand"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 99",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "unwanted possession, financial burden, unprofitable investment",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "finanzielle Last"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 99",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "unwanted possession, financial burden, unprofitable investment",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "lästiger Besitz"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 99",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "unwanted possession, financial burden, unprofitable investment",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "Fehlinvestition"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 99",
"code": "id",
"lang": "Indonesian",
"sense": "unwanted possession, financial burden, unprofitable investment",
"word": "gajah putih"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 99",
"code": "ru",
"english": "suitcase without a handle",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "čemodán bez rúčki",
"sense": "unwanted possession, financial burden, unprofitable investment",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "чемода́н без ру́чки"
}
]
}
],
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"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/8f/En-au-white_elephant.ogg/En-au-white_elephant.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/En-au-white_elephant.ogg"
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"word": "white elephant"
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"derived": [
{
"word": "white elephant sale"
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],
"etymology_text": "In Siam, elephants were working animals. However, white (albino) elephants were considered sacred and therefore were not to be put to work. The owner was then left to feed the elephant but could get no work from it. It is said that the King of Siam used to make a present of a white elephant to courtiers he wanted to ruin.",
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"word": "boondoggle"
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},
{
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}
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"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/En-au-white_elephant.ogg"
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"translations": [
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "éléphant blanc"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "Weisser Elefant"
},
{
"code": "he",
"lang": "Hebrew",
"roman": "pil lavan",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
"word": "פִּיל לָבָן"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "elefante bianco"
},
{
"code": "mr",
"lang": "Marathi",
"roman": "saphed hattī",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "सफेद हत्ती"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "biały słoń"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "elefante branco"
},
{
"code": "pa",
"lang": "Punjabi",
"roman": "safaid hāthī",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "ਸਫ਼ੈਦ ਹਾਥੀ"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "bélyj slon",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "бе́лый слон"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "elefante blanco"
},
{
"code": "te",
"lang": "Telugu",
"roman": "airāvataṁ",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
"word": "ఐరావతం"
},
{
"code": "th",
"lang": "Thai",
"roman": "cháang-pʉ̀ʉak",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
"word": "ช้างเผือก"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "an albino elephant",
"word": "beyaz fil"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "unwanted possession, financial burden, unprofitable investment",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "nutzloser Besitz"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "unwanted possession, financial burden, unprofitable investment",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "nutzloser Gegenstand"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "unwanted possession, financial burden, unprofitable investment",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "finanzielle Last"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "unwanted possession, financial burden, unprofitable investment",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "lästiger Besitz"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "unwanted possession, financial burden, unprofitable investment",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "Fehlinvestition"
},
{
"code": "id",
"lang": "Indonesian",
"sense": "unwanted possession, financial burden, unprofitable investment",
"word": "gajah putih"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"english": "suitcase without a handle",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "čemodán bez rúčki",
"sense": "unwanted possession, financial burden, unprofitable investment",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "чемода́н без ру́чки"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"white elephant"
],
"word": "white elephant"
}
Download raw JSONL data for white elephant meaning in English (5.7kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-08 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (bb46d54 and 0c3c9f6). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.