longitude

English

Etymology

From Middle English, borrowed from Old French longitude, from Latin longitūdō (“length, a measured length”), from longus (“long”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈlɒnɡɪtjuːd/, /ˈlɒnd͡ʒɪtjuːd/ (More traditional) IPA^(key): /-tʃuːd/ (Yod Coalescence)
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈlɑnd͡ʒəˌtud/

• audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

longitude (countable and uncountable, plural longitudes)

1. (geography) Angular distance measured west or east of the prime meridian.

   Coordinate term: latitude

   • 2012 March, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 100, number 2, page 87:

     But was it responsible governance to pass the Longitude Act without other efforts to protect British seamen? Or might it have been subterfuge—a disingenuous attempt to shift attention away from the realities of their life at sea.

2. (geography, astronomy) Any imaginary line perpendicular to the equator and part of a great circle passing through the North Pole and South Pole.

   Synonym: meridian

3. (archaic) Length.
   • 1831, Francis Griffin, “Griffin's Remains”, in The American Quarterly Review, volume 10, page 504:

     His shoulders are remarkably sloping, giving an appearance of great longitude to his neck.

Derived terms

• longitude clock
• longitudinal

 

Translations

angular distance

• Asturian: llonxitú f
• Bashkir: оҙонлок (oźonlok)
• Belarusian: даўгата́ f (daŭhatá)
• Bulgarian: географска дължина f (geografska dǎlžina)
• Catalan: longitud (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 經度／经度 (zh) (jīngdù)

• Czech: délka (cs) f
• Danish: længdegrad (da) c
• Dutch: lengtegraad (nl) m
• Esperanto: longitudo
• Faroese: longdarstig n
• Finnish: pituusaste (fi), pituus (fi)
• French: longitude (fr) f
• Friulian: longjitudin f
• Galician: lonxitude (gl) f
• Georgian: გრძედი (grʒedi)
• German: Länge (de) f, geographische Länge f
• Greek: μήκος (el) n (míkos), γεωγραφικό μήκος n (geografikó míkos)
• Hungarian: hosszúság (hu)
• Icelandic: lengdargráða (is) f
• Ido: longitudo (io)
• Italian: longitudine (it) f
• Japanese: 経度 (ja) (けいど, keido)
• Korean: 경도 (ko) (gyeongdo)
• Latvian: garums m
• Lithuanian: ilguma f
• Macedonian: до́лжина f (dólžina), геогра́фска до́лжина f (geográfska dólžina)
• Manx: dowan-liurid
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lengdegrad

  Nynorsk: lengdegrad (nn)

• Polish: długość (pl) f, długość geograficzna (pl) f
• Portuguese: longitude (pt) f
• Romanian: longitudine (ro) f
• Russian: долгота́ (ru) f (dolgotá)
• Scottish Gaelic: domhan-fhad m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: дужина f

  Roman: dužina (sh) f

• Slovak: dĺžka f
• Slovene: dolžina f
• Spanish: longitud (es) f
• Swahili: longitudo
• Swedish: longitud (sv) c, längdgrad (sv) c
• Tagalog: antasligid
• Ukrainian: довгота́ f (dovhotá)
• Vietnamese: kinh độ (vi)
• Welsh: hydred m

imaginary line through North Pole and South Pole

• Asturian: llonxitú f
• Bashkir: оҙонлок (oźonlok)
• Bulgarian: меридиан (bg) m (meridian)
• Catalan: longitud (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 經線／经线 (zh) (jīngxiàn)

• Danish: længdegrad (da) c, meridian (da) c
• Esperanto: longitudo
• Finnish: pituuspiiri (fi), meridiaani (fi), longitudi (fi)
• French: longitude (fr) f
• Galician: lonxitude (gl) f
• Georgian: გრძედი (grʒedi), მერიდიანი (meridiani)
• German: geographische Länge f, Längengrad (de) n
• Greek: μήκος (el) n (míkos), γεωγραφικό μήκος n (geografikó míkos), παράλληλοι (el) m pl (parálliloi)
• Ido: longitudo (io)
• Italian: longitudine (it) f
• Japanese: 経線 (ja) (けいせん, keisen)
• Korean: 경선 (ko) (gyeongseon)
• Macedonian: меридија́н m (meridiján), до́лжина f (dólžina)
• Malay: garisan bujur
• Manx: dowan-liurid
• Maori: ahopou
• Moore: bĩn-lugsi
• Polish: południk (pl) m
• Portuguese: longitude (pt) f
• Russian: меридиа́н (ru) m (meridián), долгота́ (ru) f (dolgotá)
• Scottish Gaelic: domhan-fhad m
• Spanish: longitud (es) f
• Swedish: geografisk längd (sv) c, längdgrad (sv) c
• Tagalog: antasligid
• Telugu: రేఖాంశము (te) (rēkhāṁśamu)
• Turkish: boylam (tr)
• Welsh: hydred m

See also

• easting
• equator
• prime meridian

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin longitūdō (“length, a measured length”), from longus (“long”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɔ̃.ʒi.tyd/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

longitude f (plural longitudes)

1. (geography, astronomy) longitude

Related terms

• long

Further reading

• “longitude”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Portuguese

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin longitūdō (“length, a measured length”).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /lõ.ʒiˈtu.d͡ʒi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /lõ.ʒiˈtu.d͡ʒi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /lõ.ʒiˈtu.de/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /lõ.ʒiˈtu.dɨ/ [lõ.ʒiˈtu.ðɨ]

• Rhymes: (Brazil) -ud͡ʒi, (Portugal) -udɨ
• Hyphenation: lon‧gi‧tu‧de

Noun

longitude f (plural longitudes)

1. (geography) angular distance measured west or east of the Greenwich Meridian
2. (geography, astronomy) an imaginary line perpendicular to the equator, passing through the North Pole and South Pole

Synonyms

• meridiano

Related terms

• longo