waterfall

English

Wikipedia

Godafoss, a waterfall in Iceland

Etymology

From Middle English waterfal, waterfalle, from Old English wæterġefeall (“waterfall”), equivalent to water +‎ fall. Cognate with West Frisian wetterfal (“waterfall”), Dutch waterval (“waterfall”), German Wasserfall (“waterfall”), Swedish vattenfall (“waterfall”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈwɔːtəfɔːl/, X-SAMPA: /"wO:t@fO:l/
• (US) enPR: wäʹtər-fôl, IPA: /ˈwɑtɚfɔl/, X-SAMPA: /"wAt@`fOl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

waterfall (plural waterfalls)

1. A flow of water over the edge of a cliff.
2. (figuratively) A waterfall-like outpouring of liquid, smoke, etc.
   • A waterfall of mist from the open freezer.
3. (technical, computing, slang) Waterfall model
   • A very long duration project [...] had taken a whole group of people through a painful waterfall development process.

Synonyms

• (flow of water over the edge a cliff): cascade, cataract, sault

Derived terms

• coastal waterfall
• waterfall bong
• waterfall effect
• waterfall illusion
• waterfall model
• waterfall stomach

Translations

flow of water over the edge of a cliff

• Ainu: ソ (so)
• Arabic: شلال (ar) (shallaal) m
• Armenian: ջրվեժ (hy) (ǰrvež)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 瀑布 (cmn) (pùbù)

• Czech: vodopád (cs) m
• Danish: vandfald (da) n
• Dutch: waterval (nl) f
• Esperanto: akvofalo (eo)
• Estonian: kosk, juga
• Faroese: fossur (fo) m
• Finnish: vesiputous (fi)
• French: cascade (fr) f, chute d'eau (fr) f
• Galician: fervenza f cadoiro m cachoeira f
• Georgian: ჩანჩქერი (ka) (č'anč'k'eri)
• German: Wasserfall (de) m (common), Katarakt (de) m
• Greek: καταρράκτης (el) (kataráktis) m
• Hebrew: מפל (he) (mapál) m
• Hungarian: vízesés (hu)
• Icelandic: foss (is) m
• Indonesian: air terjun (id)
• Italian: cascata (it) f
• Japanese: 滝 (ja) (たき, taki)
• Javanese: grojogan (jv)
• Kannada: ಜಲಪಾತ (kn) (jalapāta), ಧಬಧಬೆ (kn) (dhabadhabe), ಅಬ್ಬಿ (kn) (abbi), ಜೋಗು (kn) (jōgu), ನೀರಿನ ಬೀಳು (kn) (nīrina bīḷu)
• Kazakh: құлама (kk) (qulama)

• Khmer: ទឹកធ្លាក់ (km) (tɨk tleak)
• Korean: 폭포 (ko) (pokpo)
• Luxembourgish: Waasserfall (lb) m
• Macedonian: водопад (mk) (vódopad) m
• Malagasy: riana (mg), rian-drano (mg)
• Malay: air terjun (ms), air memancur (ms)
• Maori: tāheke (mi)
• Mapudungun: trayken
• Navajo: hadahiilį́
• Norwegian: foss (no) m
• Old Norse: fors
• Persian: آبشار (fa) (âbšâr')
• Polish: wodospad (pl) m
• Portuguese: cachoeira f, queda-d'água f, cascata (pt) f
• Romanian: cascadă (ro) f
• Russian: водопад (ru) (vodopád) m
• Scottish Gaelic: linne (gd) f, eas (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian: vȍdopād (sh) m, slȃp (sh) m, bȗk (sh) m
• Slovak: vodopád (sk) m
• Spanish: catarata (es) f, cascada (es) f, caída de agua (es) f
• Swedish: vattenfall (sv) n
• Tamil: நீர்வீழ்ச்சி (ta) (nirvilci)
• Telugu: జలపాతము (te) (jalapatamu)
• Turkish: şelale (tr)
• Vietnamese: thác nước (vi), thác (vi)
• Welsh: rhaeadr, pistyll, sgwd
• Zulu: impophoma (zu)

waterfall-like outpouring

• Arabic: شلال (ar) (shallaal) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 瀑布 (cmn) (pùbù)

• Czech: vodopád (cs) m
• Dutch: waterval (nl) f
• Finnish: hyöky (fi)
• German: Wasserfall (de) m, Kaskade (de) f
• Hebrew: מפל (he) (mapál) m
• Italian: cascata (it) f
• Japanese: 滝 (ja) (たき, taki)

• Kannada: ಅಬ್ಬಿ (kn) (abbi)
• Macedonian: водопад (mk) (vódopad) m
• Norwegian: foss (no) m
• Persian: آبشار (âbšâr), فوران (favarân')
• Polish: wodospad (pl) m
• Russian: водопад (ru) (vodopád) m, каскад (ru) (kaskád) m
• Serbo-Croatian: vȍdopād (sh) m
• Swedish: vattenfall (sv) n, fors (sv) c
• Welsh: rhaeadr, pistyll, sgwd

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: akvofalo
• Ido: kaskado, aquofalo
• Indonesian: air terjun
• Malayalam: വെള്ളച്ചാട്ടം (veLLacchaattam)
• Maltese: nixxiegħa f
• Tamil: நீர்வீழ்ச்சி (neerveelchi)
• Telugu: జలపాతం (jalapaataM)

Verb

waterfall (third-person singular simple present waterfalls, present participle waterfalling, simple past and past participle waterfalled)

1. (intransitive) To fall like a waterfall.
   • 1994, Nora Roberts, Private Scandals, page 54:

     Rain ran off the bill of his fielder's cap and waterfalled in front of his face.

   • 1999, Jane Yolen; Bruce Coville, Armageddon Summer‎, page 79:

     Zondra, whose dirty-blond hair waterfalled above her head from a colorful tie, gave a snorting, horsey kind of laugh.

   • 2008, John Gardner, No Human Enemy‎, page 156:

     they turned into the drive of The Manor with its red-brick front and the wonderful cloak of Virginia creeper waterfalling down between the windows.

Derived terms

• waterfalled
• waterfalling

See also

• smokefall

External links

• WorldWaterfalls.com - Stock Waterfall Photographs, Waterfall Information, Waterfall Forum