The Italian form giraffa arose in the 1590s. In early Modern English the spellings jarraf and ziraph were used, probably directly from the Arabic, and in Middle English jarraf and ziraph, gerfauntz. The name 'giraffe' has its earliest known origins in the Arabic word zarāfah ( زرافة), ultimately from Persian زُرنَاپَا‎ ( zurnāpā), a compound of زُرنَا‎ ( zurnā, “flute, zurna”) and پَا‎ ( pā, “leg”). More than 1,600 were kept in zoos in 2010. Giraffes are still found in numerous national parks and game reserves, but estimates as of 2016 indicate there are approximately 97,500 members of Giraffa in the wild. It is classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as vulnerable to extinction and has been extirpated from many parts of its former range. The giraffe has intrigued various ancient and modern cultures for its peculiar appearance, and has often been featured in paintings, books, and cartoons.

Dominant males gain mating access to females, which bear sole responsibility for rearing the young. Males establish social hierarchies through 'necking', combat bouts where the neck is used as a weapon. Giraffes live in herds of related females and their offspring or bachelor herds of unrelated adult males, but are gregarious and may gather in large aggregations. Lions, leopards, spotted hyenas, and African wild dogs may prey upon giraffes. Their food source is leaves, fruits, and flowers of woody plants, primarily acacia species, which they browse at heights most other herbivores cannot reach. Giraffes usually inhabit savannahs and woodlands. Its scattered range extends from Chad in the north to South Africa in the south, and from Niger in the west to Somalia in the east. It is classified under the family Giraffidae, along with its closest extant relative, the okapi. The giraffe's chief distinguishing characteristics are its extremely long neck and legs, its horn-like ossicones, and its spotted coat patterns. Seven other extinct species of Giraffa are known from the fossil record. Most recently, researchers proposed dividing them into up to eight extant species due to new research into their mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, as well as morphological measurements.

Traditionally, giraffes were thought to be one species, Giraffa camelopardalis, with nine subspecies. It is the tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on Earth. The giraffe is a large African hoofed mammal belonging to the genus Giraffa.

Giraffe sounds