mokele-mbembe

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English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Lingala, possibly meaning "one who stops the flow of rivers", or "rainbow".

Noun

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mokele-mbembe (plural mokele-mbembes)

  1. A large water-dwelling cryptid described in legends of the Congo River basin.
    • 1995, Tom Logsdon, Understanding the Navstar:
      The mokele mbembes' favorite hangout was a big lake frequented by the local fishermen []
    • 2003, Robert Todd Carroll, The Skeptic's Dictionary:
      Local pygmies, who have given the creature its name, have allegedly encountered the mokele-mbembe, which they say is the size of an elephant []
    • 2005, Rich Gray, Click or Treat: The Best of Halloween and Horror on the Internet:
      The swamps are intersected by many rivers, and the whole region is lush and largely inaccessible, providing any number of Mokele-Mbembes adequate food []