continent

See also: Continent and continnent

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɒntɪnənt/
• IPA^(key): /ˈkɑntɪnənt/, [ˈkʰɑnʔɪnənt]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Etymology 1

(deprecated template usage) Borrowed from Latin continēntem, noun use of present participle of continēre (“to contain”).

Noun

continent (plural continents)

1. Each of the main continuous land-masses on the earth's surface, now generally regarded as seven in number, including their related islands, continental shelves etc.
   • 1624, John Donne, “17. Meditation”, in Deuotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Seuerall Steps in My Sicknes: […], London: Printed by A[ugustine] M[atthews] for Thomas Iones, →OCLC; republished as Geoffrey Keynes, edited by John Sparrow, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions: […], Cambridge: At the University Press, 1923, →OCLC, page 98, lines 2–3:

     No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; […]

2. (obsolete in general sense) A large contiguous landmass considered independent of its islands, peninsulas etc. Specifically, the Old World continent of Europe–Asia–Africa. See the Continent.
3. (obsolete) Land (as opposed to the water).
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.v:

     The carkas with the streame was carried downe, / But th'head fell backeward on the continent.

Hyponyms

• Africa
• America
• Antarctica
• Asia
• Australia
• Europe
• Eurasia
• Gondwana
• Laurasia
• North America
• Oceania
• Pangaea
• South America

Derived terms

• the Continent
• continental
• supercontinent

Translations

each of main land-masses on earth's surface

• Afrikaans: kontinent
• Albanian: kontinent (sq) m
• Amharic: አሕጉር (ʾäḥgur)
• Antillean Creole: kontinan
• Arabic: قَارَّة f (qārra)
• Armenian: մայրցամաք (hy) (mayrcʻamakʻ), աշխարհամաս (hy) (ašxarhamas)
• Assamese: মহাদেশ (mohadex)
• Asturian: continente m
• Azerbaijani: qitə
• Bashkir: ҡитға (qitğa)
• Basque: kontinente (eu)
• Belarusian: кантыне́нт m (kantynjént), мацяры́к m (macjarýk)
• Bengali: মহাদেশ (bn) (mohadeś)
• Breton: kevandir (br) m
• Bulgarian: контине́нт (bg) m (kontinént)
• Burmese: တိုက် (my) (tuik)
• Catalan: continent (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 大陸／大陆 (zh) (dàlù), 大陆 (zh) (dàlù)

• Cornish: brastir m
• Czech: kontinent (cs) m, světadíl (cs) m
• Danish: kontinent (da)
• Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: werelddeel (nl) n, continent (nl) n
• Esperanto: kontinento (eo)
• Estonian: maailmajagu, manner (et), mander
• Faroese: heimspartur m
• Finnish: maanosa (fi), manner (fi)
• French: continent (fr) m
• Galician: continente (gl) m
• Georgian: კონტინენტი (ḳonṭinenṭi), მატერიკი (maṭeriḳi)
• German: Kontinent (de) m, Erdteil (de) m
• Greek: ήπειρος (el) f (ípeiros)

  Ancient: ἤπειρος f (ḗpeiros)

• Gujarati: ખંડ (khaṇḍ), મહાદ્વીપ (mahādvīp)
• Hebrew: יַבֶּשֶׁת (he) f (yabeshet)
• Hindi: महाद्वीप (hi) m (mahādvīp)
• Hungarian: kontinens (hu), földrész (hu), világrész (hu)
• Icelandic: heimsálfa (is) f
• Indonesian: benua (id)
• Interlingua: continente
• Interlingue:
• Irish: mór-roinn f
• Italian: continente (it) m
• Japanese: 大陸 (ja) (たいりく, tairikú)
• Kannada: ಖಂಡ (kn) (khaṇḍa)
• Kazakh: құрлық (kk) (qūrlyq)
• Khmer: ទ្វីប (km) (tviip)
• Korean: 대륙 (ko) (daeryuk) (大陸 (ko))
• Kyrgyz: континент (ky) (kontinent), материк (materik)
• Lao: ທະວີບ (lo) (tha wīp)
• Latvian: kontinents m
• Lithuanian: žemynas (lt) m, kontinentas (lt) m
• Macedonian: контине́нт m (kontinént)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Malay: benua
• Malayalam: ഭൂഖണ്ഡം (ml) (bhūkhaṇḍaṁ), വൻകര (vaṉkara)
• Maltese: kontinent m
• Manchu: ᠵᡠᠪᡴᡳ (jubki)
• Maori: tuawhenua, rawhaki, paparahi
• Marathi: खंड (khaṇḍa)
• Mirandese: cuntinente
• Mizo: khawmualpui
• Mongolian: тив (mn) (tiv), эх газар (ex gazar)
• Nepali: महादेश (mahādeś)
• Norman: continnent m (Jersey)
• Norwegian: kontinent (no) n
• Novial:
• Occitan: continent (oc) m
• Oriya: ମହାଦେଶ (or) (mahādeśa)
• Pashto: قاره (ps) f (qārá)
• Persian: قاره (fa) (qârre)
• Polish: kontynent (pl) m
• Portuguese: continente (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਮਹਾਂਦੀਪ (mahāndīp)
• Romanian: continent (ro) n
• Russian: контине́нт (ru) m (kontinént), матери́к (ru) m (materík)
• Rusyn: контіне́нт m (kontinént)
• Sanskrit: द्वीप (sa) n (dvīpa), महाद्वीपा n (mahādvīpā)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: континент m

  Roman: kontinent (sh) m

• Silesian: kůntynynt m
• Sindhi: کَنڊُ (sd) m (kandu)
• Sinhalese: මහාද්වීප (mahādwīpa)
• Slovak: svetadiel m, kontinent m
• Slovene: celina (sl) f, kontinent (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: kontinent m

  Upper Sorbian: kontinent m

• Spanish: continente (es) m
• Swahili: bara (sw)
• Swedish: kontinent (sv)
• Tagalog: kontinente (tl), lupalop, sanlupain
• Tajik: қитъа (qitʾa)
• Tamil: கண்டம் (ta) (kaṇṭam)
• Tatar: кыйтга (tt) (qıytga)
• Telugu: ఖండం (te) (khaṇḍaṁ)
• Thai: ทวีป (th) (tá-wîip)
• Turkish: kıta (tr)
• Turkmen: materik, kontinent
• Ukrainian: контине́нт (uk) m (kontynént), матери́к m (materýk)
• Urdu: براعظم (ur) (bar-e-āzam)
• Uyghur: قىتئە (qit'e), ماتېرىك (matërik)
• Uzbek: qitʼa (uz), kontinent (uz), materik (uz)
• Vietnamese: đại lục (vi) (大陸), châu lục, lục địa (vi)
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: cyfandir (cy) m
• Yiddish: קאָנטינענט (kontinent)

See also

• (continents) continent; Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia/Oceania, Europe, North America, South America, ^{(Category: en:Continents)}

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Old French continent, from Latin continentem (“continuous; holding together”), present participle of continēre (“to contain”).

Adjective

continent (comparative more continent, superlative most continent)

1. Exercising self-restraint; controlled, temperate with respect to one's bodily needs or passions, especially sex, urination and/or defecation.
   • (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Have a continent forbearance till the speed of his rage goes slower.

   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, p. 119:

     A celibate himself, he was of the opinion that marriage was something of a concession to human frailty, to save from fornication those who could not be continent, so it was better to marry than to burn with lust.

2. Not interrupted; connected; continuous.

   a continent fever

   • (Can we date this quote by Berrewood and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     The northeast part of Asia is, if not continent with the west side of America, yet certainly it is the least disjoined by sea of all that coast.

3. (obsolete) Serving to restrain or limit; restraining; opposing.

   Which is not tomb enough and continent/To hide the slain? (Shakespeare: Hamlet, 4.4.)

Antonyms

• incontinent

Translations

exercising continence

• Bulgarian: умерен (bg) (umeren), сдържан (bg) (sdǎržan)
• Latvian: savaldīgs
• Mizo: insum, insumthei
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian: kontinent (no)
• Tagalog: mapagpigil, mahinahon
• Telugu: ఖండము (te) (khaṇḍamu)

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Catalan

Etymology

From Latin continēns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [kun.tiˈnen]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [kon.tiˈnent]

Noun

continent m (plural continents)

1. continent

Related terms

• continental

See also

• (continents) continent; Àfrica,‎ Amèrica,‎ Amèrica del Nord/‎Nord-amèrica,‎ Amèrica del Sud/‎Sud-amèrica,‎ Antàrtida,‎ Àsia,‎ Europa,‎ Oceania ^{(Category: ca:Continents) [edit]}

Further reading

• “continent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “continent”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “continent” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “continent” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɛnt

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

continent n (plural continenten)

1. continent

Synonyms

• werelddeel

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin continens, continentem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.ti.nɑ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

continent m (plural continents)

1. continent

Derived terms

• continental
• sous-continent

Related terms

• contenir

Descendants

• Antillean Creole: kontinan
• Haitian Creole: kontinan
• → Romanian: continent

Further reading

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

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Latin

Verb

(deprecated template usage) continent

1. third-person plural present active indicative of contineō

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Middle French

Adjective

continent m (feminine singular continente, masculine plural continens, feminine plural continentes)

1. continent (exercising restraint)

   Antonym: incontinent

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Occitan

Etymology

From Latin continēns.

Noun

continent m (plural continents)

1. continent

Related terms

• continental

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Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin continens and/or from French continent.

Noun

continent n (plural continente)

1. continent

Declension

Declension of continent

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) continent	continentul	(niște) continente	continentele
genitive/dative	(unui) continent	continentului	(unor) continente	continentelor
vocative	continentule		continentelor

Related terms

• continental
• conține