tsunami
English
/suːˈnɑːmi/, /suˈnɑmi/, /suˈnæmi/
noun
Definitions
- A very large and destructive wave, generally caused by a tremendous disturbance in the ocean, such as an undersea earthquake or volcanic eruption. Tsunami are usually a series of waves, or wave train.
- (figurative) A large and generally unstoppable surge.
Etymology
Borrowed from Japanese 津波 (tsunami, tidal wave, seismic sea wave, harbour wave, tidal bore), 津 (harbor, outlet, cove, inlet, port) + Japanese 波 (wave).
Origin
Japanese
波
Gloss
wave
Concept
Semantic Field
The physical world
Ontological Category
Action/Process
Kanji
波
Emoji
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Timeline
Distribution of cognates by language
Geogrpahic distribution of cognates
Cognates and derived terms
- megatsunami English
- nontsunamigenic English
- palaeotsunami English
- paleotsunami English
- teletsunami English
- tsunameter English
- tsunami wall English
- tsunamic English
- tsunamigenic English
- tsunamilike English
- wall English
- tsunami Finnish
- Tsunami German
- cunami Hungarian
- tsunami Dutch, Flemish
- tsunami French
- цунами Russian
- tsunami Spanish, Castilian
- tsunami Norwegian Bokmål
- tsunami Portuguese
- マイクロ波 Japanese
- 大津 Japanese
- 山津波 Japanese
- 横波 Japanese
- 波 Japanese
- 波平 Japanese
- 波束 Japanese
- 波長 Japanese
- 津 Japanese
- 津波 Japanese
- 津波警報 Japanese
- 津軽 Japanese
- 縦波 Japanese
- 電磁波 Japanese
- tsunami Polish
- tsunami Norwegian Nynorsk
- tsunami Danish
- cunami Serbo-Croatian
- цунами Serbo-Croatian
- सुनामी Hindi
- สึนามิ Thai
- tsunami Cebuano
- tsunami Indonesian
- цунами Bulgarian
- צונמי Hebrew (modern)
- cunami Slovak
- tsunami Swahili
- なみ Old Japanese