ice age

See also: Ice Age

English

Neko Harbour, Antarctica circa 2000

Alternative forms

• Ice Age

Etymology

Perhaps a calque of German Eiszeit.

Noun

ice age (plural ice ages)

1. (sciences) A period of long-term reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence of major polar ice sheets that reach the ocean and calve icebergs.

   The earth is currently in the Late Cenozoic Ice Age, an ice age that began 33.9 million years ago with the Antarctic Ice Cap.

2. (colloquial) Any of several glacial periods (within a scientific ice age) marked by episodes of extensive glaciation alternating with episodes of relative warmth (interglacial).
   • 2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, BCA, published 2003, page 377:

     The cause of ice ages, Köppen decided, is to be found in cool summers, not brutal winters.

Translations

period of glaciation at the poles

• Afrikaans: ystydperk
• Arabic: عَصْر جَلِيدِيّ m (ʕaṣr jalīdiyy)
• French: âge de glace m
• German: Eiszeitalter (de) n
• Hindi: हिमयुग (himyug)
• Portuguese: idade do gelo f, era glaciar f
• Romanian: perioadă glaciară (ro) f, eră glaciară (ro) f, epocă glaciară (ro) f
• Swedish: istid (sv) c

any of several glacial periods

• Afrikaans: ystydperk
• Arabic: عَصْر جَلِيدِيّ m (ʕaṣr jalīdiyy)
• Armenian: սառցե դարաշրջան (saṙcʻe darašrǰan)
• Basque: glaziazio
• Belarusian: ледніковы перыяд m (ljednikóvy pjeryjad)
• Bulgarian: ледников период m (lednikov period)
• Burmese: ရေခဲခေတ် (rehkai:hket)
• Catalan: època glacial f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 冰河時期／冰河时期 (zh) (bīnghé shíqī), 冰期 (zh) (bīngqī), 冰河期 (zh) (bīnghéqī)

• Czech: doba ledová (cs) f
• Danish: istid (da) c
• Dutch: ijstijd (nl) m
• Esperanto: glaciepoko
• Estonian: jääaeg
• Finnish: jääkausi (fi)
• French: période glaciaire (fr) f, glaciation (fr) f, englaciation
• Georgian: გამყინვარების პერიოდი (gamq̇invarebis ṗeriodi)
• German: Eiszeit (de) f
• Greek: Εποχή των Παγετώνων f (Epochí ton Pagetónon)
• Hebrew: עידן קרח m
• Hindi: हिमयुग (himyug)
• Hungarian: jégkorszak (hu), eljegesedés (hu)
• Icelandic: ísöld (is) f
• Indonesian: zaman es (id)
• Irish: oighearaois f
• Italian: era glaciale f
• Japanese: 氷河期 (ja) (ひょうがき, hyōgaki), 氷河時代 (ja) (ひょうがじだい, hyōga jidai)
• Kannada: ಹಿಮಯುಗ (himayuga)
• Kazakh: мұз дәуірі (mūz däuırı)
• Korean: 빙하기(氷河期) (ko) (binghagi), 빙기(氷期) (binggi)
• Latvian: ledus laikmets
• Lithuanian: ledynmetis (lt) m
• Luxembourgish: Äiszäit f
• Macedonian: ледено време n (ledeno vreme)
• Malayalam: ഹിമയുഗം (himayugaṁ)
• Maltese: Żmien is-Silġ m
• Manx: eash rioee f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: istid m or f

  Nynorsk: istid f

• Persian: عصر یخبندان
• Polish: epoka lodowcowa f
• Portuguese: era do gelo f, era glacial f, idade do gelo f, período glacial m
• Romanian: glaciațiune (ro) f
• Russian: леднико́вый пери́од (ru) m (lednikóvyj períod)
• Scottish Gaelic: Linn na Deighe
• Slovak: ľadová doba f
• Slovene: ledena doba (sl) f
• Spanish: glaciación (es) f
• Swedish: istid (sv) c
• Tagalog: panahon ng yelo
• Tamil: பனி யுகம் (paṉi yukam)
• Thai: ยุคน้ำแข็ง
• Turkish: buzul çağı
• Ukrainian: льодовикова ера f (lʹodovykova era)
• Uzbek: muzlik davri
• Vietnamese: kỷ băng hà (期冰河)
• Welsh: Oes yr Iâ
• West Frisian: iistiid

Further reading

• ice age on Wikipedia.Wikipedia