ice age

See also: Ice Age

English

Neko Harbour, Antarctica circa 2000

Alternative forms

• Ice Age

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 2003, p. 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

• French: âge de glace m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Eiszeitalter (de) n
• Swedish: istid (sv) c

period of extensive glaciation (glacial period)

• Arabic: عَصْر جَلِيدِيّ m (ʕaṣr jalīdiyy)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 冰河時期／冰河时期 (zh) (bīnghé shíqī), 冰河时期 (zh) (bīnghé shíqí), 冰期 (zh) (bīngqí), 冰河期 (zh) (bīnghéqí)

• Czech: doba ledová 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
• German: Eiszeit (de) f
• Greek: Εποχή των Παγετώνων f (Epochí ton Pagetónon)
• Hebrew: עידן קרח m
• Hungarian: jégkorszak (hu)
• Icelandic: ísöld (is) f
• Indonesian: zaman es (id)
• Irish: oighearaois f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: era glaciale f
• Japanese: 氷河期 (ひょうがき, hyōgaki), 氷河時代 (ひょうがじだい, hyōga jidai)
• Korean: 빙하기 (ko) (binghagi) (氷河期 (ko)), 빙기 (binggi) (氷期)
• Lithuanian: ledynmetis (lt) m
• Luxembourgish: Äiszäit f
• Maltese: Żmien is-Silġ m
• Manx: eash rioee f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: istid m or f

  Nynorsk: istid f

• Polish: epoka lodowcowa f
• Portuguese: era do gelo f, era glacial f, idade do gelo f, período glacial m
• Russian: леднико́вый пери́од (ru) m (lednikóvyj períod)
• Slovene: ledena doba (sl) f
• Swedish: istid (sv) c
• Tagalog: panahon ng yelo
• Vietnamese: kỷ băng hà (期冰河)