pachyderm

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, or other large thick-skinned mammal formerly grouped in the obsolete order Pachydermata

   The museum display explains why the rhinoceros was once classified as a pachyderm.

2. 2
   noun

   an elephant

   The young pachyderm stayed close to the herd as it crossed the river.

3. 3
   noun

   figurative: a person insensitive to criticism or insult

   Years of hostile reviews had turned the director into a cheerful pachyderm.

Borrowed from French pachyderme, coined from Greek pakhys, 'thick,' + derma, 'skin.' Nineteenth-century zoology grouped several thick-skinned hoofed mammals as Pachydermata, but modern classification abandoned the order. Pachyderm survives especially as a literary word for elephant.

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