iceberg

English

Iceberg diagram

An iceberg

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch ijsberg (compound of ijs (“ice”) +‎ berg (“mountain”)), from Middle Dutch ijsberch. First used to describe a glacier as seen at a distance from a ship then used as a term to describe the floating chunks of ice broken off from such glaciers. Cognate to German Eisberg, Danish isbjerg, Norwegian isberg and Swedish isberg.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈaɪsbɜːɡ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈaɪsbɝɡ/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪsbɜː(ɹ)ɡ
• Hyphenation: ice‧berg

Noun

iceberg (plural icebergs)

1. (obsolete) The seaward end of a glacier. [18th–19th c.]
2. A huge mass of ocean-floating ice which has broken off a glacier or ice shelf [from 19th c.]

   The Titanic hit an iceberg and sank.

3. (US, slang) An aloof person. [from 19th c.]
4. (figurative, after an adjective) An impending disastrous event whose adverse effects are only beginning to show, in reference to one-tenth of the volume of an iceberg being visible above water.
   • 2013, “How Barack Obama can get at least some of his credibility back”, in The Economist‎^[1]:

     He has little to lose: at present he will go down in history, alongside George W. Bush, as a skipper who ignored the looming fiscal iceberg.

Derived terms

• bergy bit
• blue iceberg
• iceberg basement
• iceberg droppings
• iceberger
• iceberg green
• iceberg lettuce (Lactuca sativa var. capitata)
• iceberglike
• iceberg theory
• icebergy
• tip of the iceberg

 

Related terms

• berg
• fatberg
• ice
• ice floe

 

Descendants

• → Azerbaijani: aysberq
• → French: iceberg
• → Spanish: iceberg
• → Portuguese: iceberg, icebergue, aicebergue
• → Turkish: aysberg
• → Welsh: eisberg

Translations

huge mass of floating ice

• Afrikaans: ysberg
• Albanian: ajsberg m
• Arabic: جَبَل جَلِيد‎ m (jabal jalīd), جَبَل جَلِيدِيّ‎ m (jabal jalīdiyy), كُتْلَة جَلِيدِيَّة‎ f (kutla jalīdiyya)
• Armenian: այսբերգ (hy) (aysberg)
• Asturian: iceber m
• Azerbaijani: aysberq (az), buzdağı (az)
• Basque: iceberg (eu), izozmendi
• Belarusian: а́йсберг m (ájsbjerh), лёдаго́р m (ljodahór)
• Bengali: হিমশৈল (himośōil)
• Bulgarian: а́йсберг m (ájsberg)
• Burmese: ရေခဲတောင် (my) (rehkai:taung)
• Catalan: iceberg m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 冰山 (bing¹ saan¹)

  Mandarin: 冰山 (zh) (bīngshān)

  Min Nan: 冰山 (zh-min-nan) (peng-soaⁿ)

  Wu: 冰山 (¹pin-se)

• Cornish: please add this translation if you can
• Crimean Tatar: buzdağ
• Czech: kra (cs) f
• Danish: isbjerg (da) n
• Dutch: ijsberg (nl) m
• Erzya: эйбандо (ejbando)
• Esperanto: glacimonto
• Estonian: jäämägi (et)
• Faroese: ísfjall n
• Finnish: jäävuori (fi)
• French: iceberg (fr) m, montagne de glace (fr)
• Galician: iceberg (gl) m
• Georgian: აისბერგი (aisbergi)
• German: Eisberg (de) m
• Greek: παγόβουνο (el) n (pagóvouno)
• Greenlandic: iluliaq
• Hebrew: קַרְחוֹן יַמִּי‎ (he) m (karkhón yamí)
• Hindi: हिमशैल m (himśail)
• Hungarian: jéghegy (hu)
• Icelandic: borgarísjaki (is) m, ísjaki (is) m
• Ido: glaciomonto (io)
• Indonesian: gunung es
• Interlingua: iceberg
• Inuktitut: ᐱᖃᓗᔭᖅ (piqaloyaq)
• Irish: cnoc oighir
• Italian: iceberg (it) m
• Japanese: 氷山 (ja) (ひょうざん, hyōzan)
• Kazakh: айсберг (aisberg), мұзтау (mūztau)
• Khmer: ផ្ទាំងទឹកកក (phtĕəng tɨk kɑɑk)
• Korean: 빙산(氷山) (ko) (bingsan)
• Kyrgyz: айсберг (ky) (aysberg), музтоо (muztoo)
• Lao: ພູເຂົານ້ຳກ້ອນ (phū khao nam kǭn)
• Latin: mons glacialis m
• Latvian: aisbergs m, leduskalns m
• Lithuanian: ledkalnis m
• Luxembourgish: Äisbierg
• Macedonian: санта мраз f (santa mraz), санта f (santa)
• Malay: aisberg (ms)
• Maltese: ajsberg
• Manx: beinn rioee
• Maori: toka haupapa
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: мөсөн уул (mösön uul)

  Mongolian: ᠮᠥᠰᠦᠨ
  ᠠᠭᠤᠯᠠ (mösün aɣula)

• Norman: montangne dé gliaiche f (Jersey)
• Northern Sami: jiekŋavárri
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: isfjell (no) n, isberg n

  Nynorsk: isfjell n

• Persian: یخکوه‎ (yaxkuh), آیسبرگ‎ (âysberg)
• Plautdietsch: Iessboach m
• Polish: góra lodowa (pl) f
• Portuguese: iceberg (pt) m, icebergue (pt) m, montanha de gelo
• Romanian: aisberg (ro) n
• Russian: а́йсберг (ru) m (ájsberg)
• Scottish Gaelic: eigh-bheinn f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: са̑нта f, са̑нта леда f

  Roman: sȃnta (sh) f, sȃnta leda f

• Slovak: ľadovec m, kryha f
• Slovene: ledena gora (sl) f
• Spanish: banquisa (es) f, iceberg (es) m, témpano de hielo m, témpano (es) m
• Swedish: isberg (sv) n
• Tajik: айсберг (aysberg), кӯҳи ях (kühi yax)
• Thai: ภูเขาน้ำแข็ง (th) (puu-kǎo-nám-kɛ̌ng)
• Tibetan: ཁྱགས་རི (khyags ri)
• Turkish: aysberg (tr), buz dağı (tr)
• Turkmen: aýsberg (tk)
• Ukrainian: а́йсберг (uk) m (ájsberh)
• Urdu: آئس برگ‎ (āis barg)
• Uyghur: مۇز تاغ‎ (muz tagh)
• Uzbek: aysberg (uz), muztogʻ (uz)
• Vietnamese: núi băng trôi
• Volapük: gladabel (vo)
• Welsh: eisberg, mynydd iâ, rhewfryn m
• West Frisian: iisberch c
• Yiddish: ייַזבאַרג‎ m (ayzbarg)

See also

• freeboard
• growler
• melt pond

References

• iceberg on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Icebergs on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “iceberg”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English iceberg, from Dutch ijsberg (literally “ice mountain”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ajs.bɛʁɡ/, /is.bɛʁɡ/, /ajz.bɛʁɡ/, /iz.bɛʁɡ/, /ajs.bœʁɡ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛʁɡ
• Homophone: icebergs

Noun

iceberg m (plural icebergs)

1. iceberg

Derived terms

• partie émergée de l’iceberg
• partie visible de l’iceberg
• sommet de l’iceberg

Further reading

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

Galician

Noun

iceberg m (plural icebergs)

1. iceberg

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English iceberg, from Dutch ijsberg (literally “ice mountain”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaj.zberɡ/, /ˈajˌzbɛrɡ/
• Rhymes: -ajzberɡ, -ɛrɡ

Noun

iceberg m (invariable)

1. iceberg

Derived terms

• punta dell'iceberg (“tip of the iceberg”)

See also

• ghiaccio (“ice”)

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• icebergue, aicebergue (prescribed)

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English iceberg, from Dutch ijsberg (literally “ice mountain”).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌaj.seˈbɛʁ.ɡi/ [ˌaɪ̯.seˈbɛɦ.ɡi]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌaj.seˈbɛʁ.ɡi/ [ˌaɪ̯.seˈbɛɦ.ɡi]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ˌaj.seˈbɛɾ.ɡi/ [ˌaɪ̯.seˈbɛɾ.ɡi]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˌaj.seˈbɛʁ.ɡi/ [ˌaɪ̯.seˈbɛʁ.ɡi]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌaj.seˈbɛɻ.ɡe/ [ˌaɪ̯.seˈbɛɻ.ɡe]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˌaj.sɨˈbɛɾ.ɡɨ/ [ˌaj.sɨˈβɛɾ.ɣɨ]

Noun

iceberg m (plural icebergs)

1. iceberg (huge mass of floating ice)

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English iceberg, from Dutch ijsberg (literally “ice mountain”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /iθeˈbeɾ/ [i.θeˈβ̞eɾ], /iθeˈbeɾɡ/ [i.θeˈβ̞eɾɣ̞]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America) /iseˈbeɾ/ [i.seˈβ̞eɾ], /iseˈbeɾɡ/ [i.seˈβ̞eɾɣ̞]
  • Rhymes: -eɾ, -eɾɡ
  • Syllabification: i‧ce‧berg
• IPA^(key): (Latin America, also) /ˈaisbeɾɡ/ [ˈai̯z.β̞eɾɣ̞]
  • Rhymes: -aisbeɾɡ

Noun

iceberg m (plural icebergs)

1. iceberg

   Synonym: témpano de hielo

   la punta del iceberg ― the tip of the iceberg

Derived terms

• punta del iceberg f

 

Further reading

• “iceberg”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014