noun
hippopotamus; hippo
Common animal name; usually written in katakana.
動物園でカバを見た。
I saw a hippopotamus at the zoo.
カバは水の中で過ごすことが多い。
Hippos often spend time in the water.
The kanji 河馬 literally means 'river horse', a calque of the Greek 'hippopotamus'. The reading かば is likely a borrowing from Dutch or Portuguese, but the exact derivation is uncertain.