okapi

UK: /əʊˈkɑːpɪ/ US: (ō kä′pē)

Inflections of 'okapi' (n):

okapis

npl (All usages)

okapi

npl (Can be used as a collective plural—e.g. "We saw a herd of okapi in the distance.")

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

o•ka•pi  (ō kä′pē), n., pl. -pis, (esp. collectively) -pi. 

1. Mammals an African mammal, Okapia johnstoni, closely related to and resembling the giraffe, but smaller and with a much shorter neck.

• a related Pygmy dialect, dialectal), according to English Africanist Harry Johnston (1858–1927), author of the first zoological descriptions of the animal
• Bambuba (Mvu'ba), a Central Sudanic language of the NE Democratic Republic of the Congo (or
• 1900

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

okapi / əʊˈkɑːpɪ/ noun ( -pis, -pi)

1. a ruminant mammal, Okapia johnstoni, of the forests of central Africa, having a reddish-brown coat with horizontal white stripes on the legs and small horns: family Giraffidae

Etymology: 20th Century: from a Central African word