capsize

English

A capsized ship.

Alternative forms

• capsise (hypercorrect)

Etymology

Attested since 1788. Origin unknown. Possibly related to Spanish chapuzar (“to sink by the head”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kæpˈsaɪz/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪz

Verb

capsize (third-person singular simple present capsizes, present participle capsizing, simple past and past participle capsized)

1. (intransitive, nautical) To overturn.
   • 1982, “Sexual Healing”, performed by Marvin Gaye:

     Baby, I think I'm capsizing / The waves are rising and rising

2. (transitive, nautical) To cause (a ship) to overturn.
   • 1819–1824, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London, (please specify |canto=I to XVII):

     But what if carrying sail capsize the boat?

3. (intransitive, of knots) To deform under stress.
   • 1944, Clifford Warren Ashley, The Ashley Book of Knots, page 19:

     There are even cases where a totally different knot may result when carelessly pulled. Tie the Granny Knot around any object and pull one end, and it will capsize into Two Half Hitches.

Synonyms

• keel over
• turn turtle

Derived terms

• capsizable
• capsizer
• uncapsized

 

Descendants

• → Dutch: kapseizen

Translations

(intransitive) to overturn

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: շրջվել (hy) (šrǰvel)
• Belarusian: перакульвацца impf (pjerakulʹvacca), перакуліцца pf (pjerakulicca)
• Bulgarian: прекатурвам се (prekaturvam se), преобръщам се (preobrǎštam se)
• Catalan: sotsobrar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 傾覆／倾覆 (zh) (qīngfù), 翻 (zh) (fān), 翻覆 (zh) (fānfù)

• Danish: kuldsejle, kæntre
• Dutch: kapseizen (nl)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Faroese: kollsigla
• Finnish: kaatua (fi)
• French: chavirer (fr)
• Galician: alagar (gl), envorcar
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: kentern (de)
• Hungarian: felborul (hu), felfordul (hu)
• Icelandic: kollsigla
• Irish: iompaigh béal faoi
• Italian: capovolgersi, ribaltarsi, rovesciarsi (it)
• Japanese: 転覆する (ja) (てんぷくする, tenpuku suru), 覆る (ja) (くつがえる, kutsugaeru)
• Khmer: ក្រឡាប់ (km) (krɑlap)
• Korean: 뒤집다 (ko) (dwijipda)
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Maori: hurirapa, tahuri, tūpoki
• Mongolian: хөмрөх (mn) (xömröx)
• Norwegian: kantre (no)

  Bokmål: kollseile

  Nynorsk: kollsegle, kollsigla

• Polish: wywracać się impf, wywrócić się pf
• Portuguese: soçobrar (pt)
• Romanian: răsturna (ro)
• Russian: опроки́дываться (ru) impf (oprokídyvatʹsja), опроки́нуться (ru) pf (oprokínutʹsja), перевора́чиваться (ru) impf (perevoráčivatʹsja), переверну́ться (ru) pf (perevernútʹsja)
• Spanish: zozobrar (es), volcar (es)
• Swedish: kapsejsa (sv)
• Thai: อับปาง (th) (àp-bpaang)
• Turkish: devirmek (tr)
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: lật (vi)
• Welsh: troi (cy)

(transitive) to cause to overturn

• Belarusian: перакульваць impf (pjerakulʹvacʹ), перакуліць pf (pjerakulicʹ)
• Bulgarian: прекатурвам (prekaturvam), преобръщам (bg) (preobrǎštam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 使傾覆／使倾覆 (zh) (shǐ qīngfù)

• Dutch: doen kapseizen
• Finnish: kaataa (fi)
• French: faire chavirer, chavirer (fr)
• German: zum Kentern bringen
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: ἀνατρέπω (anatrépō)

• Hebrew: הָפַךְ (he) m (hafakh)
• Hungarian: felborít (hu), felfordít (hu)
• Italian: ribaltare (it), capovolgere (it)
• Japanese: 転覆させる (ja) (てんぷくさせる, tenpuku saseru)
• Korean: 뒤집히다 (dwijiphida)
• Mongolian: хөмрүүлэх (xömrüülex)
• Portuguese: soçobrar (pt)
• Russian: опроки́дывать (ru) impf (oprokídyvatʹ), опроки́нуть (ru) pf (oprokínutʹ), перевора́чивать (ru) impf (perevoráčivatʹ), переверну́ть (ru) pf (perevernútʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: cuir thairis
• Spanish: hacer volcar (es), zozobrar (es)

Noun

capsize (plural capsizes)

1. The act of, or occurrence of capsizing or overturning.

Translations

The act or occurrence of overturning or capsizing

• Maori: huripokinga, hurirapanga

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “capsize”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.