Basic Details
Word: Mahout
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: A person who works with an elephant, riding it, training it and looking after it.
Word origin: Comes from Hindi mahaut, from Sanskrit mahamatra, a high official.
How to Spell Mahout
Syllables: ma - hout
Tricky part: There is an h after ma, and the second part is hout, rhyming with shout. It is not spelt hoot or howt.
Watch out for: mahoot, mahowt, mahoute
Memory tip: A mahout gives a shout to his elephant: ma + hout, and hout rhymes with shout.
Usage Examples
Example 1: The mahout scrubbed the elephant's back with a coconut husk.
Example 2: At the forest camp, each elephant has its own mahout.
Example 3: The mahout spoke softly, and the elephant lifted its trunk to greet us.
Fun Fact
A mahout usually sits on the elephant's neck, just behind the ears, and guides it with his feet and spoken commands.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Only one word in the list is spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of that word.
1. sheperd 2. falconner 3. vetrinarian 4. mahout
a) a doctor who treats animals
b) a person who trains hawks or falcons to hunt
c) a person who rides and looks after an elephant
d) a person who looks after sheep
Show answer
c) a person who rides and looks after an elephant. Shepherd needs the h of sheep-herd, falconer has one n, and veterinarian has an e after vet. Mahout is the clean spelling.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
The tuhoam called out a command and the huge animal knelt down slowly.
a) mascot
b) mentor
c) matron
d) mahout
Show answer
d) mahout. These six letters, with an h and a u, make mahout; mascot, mentor and matron have different letters.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
Every morning before sunrise the old mahoot fed sugar cane to the temple elephant and then washed her in the tank.
a) sunrise
b) mahoot
c) elephant
d) temple
Show answer
b) mahoot. Mahout ends in out, the same three letters as the word out itself, not oot.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A mahout works with ____.
a) elephants
b) camels
c) horses
d) cattle
Show answer
a) elephants
2. The word mahout came into English from ____.
a) Spanish
b) Hindi
c) French
d) Greek
Show answer
b) Hindi
