a very large nearly hairless mammal having the snout prolonged into a muscular trunk instead of a snout and two teeth in the upper jaw developed into long ivory tusks. The African elephant is larger than the Indian elephant of S Asia, which has smaller ears and a humped back: Loxodonta africana (African elephant), Elephas maximus (Indian elephant)
the elephant in the room/corner
a serious problem or obvious truth that people are aware of but choose to ignore, e.g. out of fear, embarrassment, or uncertainty about how it should be dealt with
Death is the elephant in the room. No other subject in our culture is so meticulously avoided — Michal Zapendowski
[Middle English via French and Latin from Greek elephant-, elephas]