cataclysm

English

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkætəˌklɪzm̩/

Etymology

French cataclysme, from Latin cataclysmos, from Ancient Greek κατακλυσμός (kataklysmos, “deluge, flood”), from κατακλύζω (kataklyzo, “to dash over, flood, deluge, inundate”), from κατά (kata, “downwards, towards”) + κλύζω (klyzo, “to wash off, to wash away, to dash over”).

Noun

cataclysm (plural cataclysms)

1. A sudden, violent event.
2. (geology) A sudden and violent change in the earth's crust.
3. A great flood.

Derived terms

• cataclysmic

Related terms

• catastrophe

Translations

A sudden, violent event

• Belarusian: катаклізм (be) (kataklízm) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 激變 (cmn), 激变 (cmn) (jībiàn)

• Czech: kataklyzma (cs) f
• Esperanto: kataklismo (eo)
• Finnish: mullistus (fi)
• French: cataclysme (fr) m
• German: Kataklysmus (de) m
• Greek: κατακλυσμός (el) (kataklysmós) m

• Japanese: 激変 (ja) (げきへん, gekihen)
• Manx: coleaystey mooar (gv) m
• Polish: kataklizm (pl) m
• Romanian: cataclism (ro) n
• Russian: катаклизм (ru) (kataklízm) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: катаклизма (sh) f

  Roman: kataklizma (sh) f

• Ukrainian: катаклізм (uk) (kataklízm) m
• Urdu: قیامت (ur) (qayamat)

A sudden and violent change in the earth's crust

• Finnish: kataklysmi (fi), luonnonmullistus (fi)
• Romanian: cataclism (ro) n

• Russian: катаклизм (ru) (kataklízm) m

A great flood

• Russian: потоп (ru) (potóp) m