ocean

See also: Ocean, Océan, océan, oceán, óceán, and oċean

English

A map with the Indian Ocean in dark blue

Etymology

Etymology tree

substrateder.

Ancient Greek Ὠκεᾰνός (Ōkeănós)der.

Latin Ōceanusder.

Old French occeanbor.

Middle English *ocean, occean, occian, occyan

English ocean

From Middle English *ocean, occean, occian, occyan, from Old French occean (later reborrowed or reinforced by Middle French ocean), from Latin Ōceanus, originally from Ancient Greek Ὠκεανός (Ōkeanós, “Oceanus”, a water deity). Displaced native Old English gārseċġ. Also commonly referred to as the ocean sea, the sea of ocean (compare Latin mare ōceanum; Old French mer oceane, occeanne mer). Compare Saterland Frisian Oceoan (“ocean”), West Frisian oseaan (“ocean”), Dutch oceaan (“ocean”), German Low German Ozeaan (“ocean”), German Ozean (“ocean”), Danish ocean (“ocean”), Swedish ocean (“ocean”), French océan (“ocean”), Italian oceano (“ocean”). Doublet of Oceanus/Okeanos.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈəʊ.ʃən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈoʊ.ʃən/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Australia) IPA^(key): /ˈəʉ.ʃən/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈɐʉ.ʃən/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈo.ʃən/
• (Wales, without the toe–tow merger) IPA^(key): /ˈoːʃən/
• Rhymes: -əʊʃən
• Hyphenation: o‧cean

Noun

ocean (countable and uncountable, plural oceans)

2. (countable) One of the large bodies of water separating the continents.
3. The continuous body of salt water covering a majority of the Earth's surface.

   Synonym: sea

4. (uncountable) Water belonging to an ocean.

   The island is surrounded by ocean

5. (figuratively) An immense expanse; any vast space or quantity without apparent limits.

   the boundless ocean of eternity

   an ocean of difference

   • 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:

     On the present occasion, Traddles was so hemmed in by the pagoda and the guitar-case, and Dora’s flower-painting, and my writing-table, that I had serious doubts of the possibility of his using his knife and fork; but he protested, with his own good-humour, ‘Oceans of room, Copperfield! I assure you, Oceans!’

   • 1959, “Poison Ivy”, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller (lyrics), performed by The Coasters:

     Poison Ivy, Lord,'ll make you itch
     You're gonna need an ocean
     Of calamine lotion
     You'll be scratchin' like a hound
     The minute you start to mess around

6. A blue colour, like that of the ocean (also called ocean blue).

   ocean:  

Synonyms

• (large body of water): the ogin (UK, nautical and navy)

Hyponyms

• Antarctic Ocean
• Atlantic Ocean
• Austral Ocean
• Deucaledon Ocean
• German Ocean
• Indian Ocean
• Pacific Ocean
• Southern Ocean
• South Polar Ocean

Derived terms

• a drop in the ocean
• blue-ocean
• boil the ocean
• brown ocean effect
• calm blue ocean
• Canfield ocean
• drop in the ocean
• exo-ocean
• hycean
• hyperoceanic
• interocean
• it's not the size of the ship, it's the motion of the ocean
• midocean
• mid-ocean ridge
• motion of someone's ocean
• nonocean
• ocean acidification
• oceanarium
• oceanaut
• oceanbed
• ocean blue
• Ocean Bluff
• Ocean County
• ocean current
• ocean dandruff
• ocean depths
• ocean dumping
• ocean engineering
• ocean eyes
• ocean floor
• oceanfront
• oceanful
• oceangoing
• ocean-going
• Ocean Grove
• Oceania
• oceanic
• Ocean Island
• oceanite
• oceanization
• oceanize
• oceanless
• oceanlike
• ocean liner
• ocean lore
• ocean-lore
• ocean-nymph
• oceanographer
• oceanography
• oceanology
• oceanophyte
• ocean perch
• ocean planet
• ocean pout
• ocean quahog
• ocean ranching
• Ocean Ridge
• Ocean Sea
• oceanside
• Oceanside
• Ocean Springs
• ocean station vessel
• ocean sunfish
• ocean tramp
• Oceanus
• oceanview
• oceanward
• oceanwards
• oceanwater
• oceanway
• oceanwide
• oceanwise
• ocean world
• oceanworthy
• open ocean
• paleo-ocean
• Panthalassan Ocean
• Panthalassic Ocean
• piss in the ocean
• primordial ocean
• spit in the ocean
• superocean
• transocean
• ur-ocean
• why is the ocean near the shore
• World Ocean

Translations

one of the large bodies of water

• Afrikaans: oseaan (af)
• Ainu: アトゥイ (atuy)
• Akan: ɛpopɔn
• Albanian: oqeán (sq) m, oqeáni m, ujnajë (sq) f
• Amharic: ውቅያኖስ (wəḳyanos)
• Antillean Creole: granlanmè
• Arabic: مُحِيط (ar) m (muḥīṭ), قَامُوس (ar) m (qāmūs)
• Aragonese: ocián m
• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܐܘܩܝܢܘܣ m (ʾōqêyānōs)

• Armenian: օվկիանոս (hy) (ōvkianos)
• Aromanian: uchean n, uchian m, ochean m (singular), ucheani f, ucheane f, uchiani f uchiane f, uchianj m, ocheanj m (plural)
• Arrernte:

  Eastern Arrernte: alaye

• Assamese: মহাসাগৰ (mohaxagor)
• Asturian: océanu (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: okean (az), ümman
• Bajau:

  West Coast Bajau: selang

• Bashkir: океан (ukian)
• Basque: ozeano
• Belarusian: акія́н m (akiján)
• Bengali: সমুদ্র (bn) (śomudro), মহাসমুদ্র (bn) (mohaśomudro)
• Bhojpuri: सागर (sāgar)
• Bislama: dipsi
• Bontoc:

  Eastern Bontoc: fiayfiay

• Breton: meurvor m
• Bulgarian: океа́н (bg) m (okeán)
• Burmese: အဏ္ဏဝါ (my) (anna.wa), သမုဒ္ဒရာ (my) (sa.mudda.ra)
• Buryat: далай (dalai)
• Caló: pañibaró m
• Carpathian Rusyn: океа́н m (okeán)
• Catalan: oceà (ca) m
• Chechen: океан (okean), ӏапказ (ˀapkaz)
• Cherokee: ᎡᏉᏂ (equoni), ᎠᎺᏉᎯ (amequohi)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 大洋 (daai⁶ joeng⁴, daai⁶ joeng^4-2)

  Dungan: ён (ion)

  Eastern Min: 大洋 (dâi-iòng)

  Hokkien: 海洋 (zh-min-nan) (hái-iûⁿ / hái-iôⁿ)

  Mandarin: 大洋 (zh) (dàyáng), 海洋 (zh) (hǎiyáng), 洋 (zh) (yáng)

  Wu: 洋

• Chukchi: майӈыаӈӄы (majṇyaṇqy)
• Crimean Tatar: okean
• Czech: oceán (cs) m
• Danish: ocean (da) n, verdenshav (da) n
• Dhivehi: ކަނޑު (kaⁿḍu)
• Dutch: oceaan (nl) m, wereldzee (nl) f
• Dzongkha: རྒྱ་མཚོ (rgya mtsho)
• Esperanto: oceano (eo)
• Estonian: ookean (et)
• Ewe: please add this translation if you can
• Extremaduran: océanu m
• Farefare: ateko
• Faroese: hav (fo) n
• Fijian: wasa (fj)
• Finnish: valtameri (fi)
• French: océan (fr) m
• Galician: ouceán m, ouceao m, ouciao m, océano (gl) m
• Georgian: ოკეანე (oḳeane)
• German: Weltmeer (de) n, Ozean (de) m
• Greek: ωκεανός (el) m (okeanós)

  Ancient Greek: ὠκεανός m (ōkeanós)

• Greenlandic: imaq
• Gujarati: સમુદ્ર (gu) (samudra)
• Haitian Creole: oseyan
• Hausa: tḕku (ha) f
• Hawaiian: moana, kai
• Hebrew: אוקיינוס \ אוֹקְיָנוֹס (he) m (oqyanós), יָם (he) m (yam)
• Hindi: सागर (hi) m (sāgar), महासागर (hi) m (mahāsāgar), समुद्र (hi) m (samudra), महासमुद्र (hi) m (mahāsmudra), समन्दर (hi) m (samandar), समुन्दर (hi) m (samundar), अम्बुधि (hi) (ambudhi), बहर (hi) m (bahar)
• Hungarian: óceán (hu)
• Icelandic: haf (is) n, sjór (is) m, ægir (is) m (poetic), úthaf (is) n
• Ido: oceano (io)
• Ifugao:

  Tuwali Ifugao: baybay

• Igbo: osimiri (ig)
• Ilocano: baybay
• Indonesian: samudra (id), lautan (id)
• Interlingua: oceano
• Iranun: kaludan
• Irish: aigéan m, oician m (early form), bóchna f, farraige (ga) f, farraige mhór f, lear m, mórmhuir f
• Isoko: abadị
• Italian: oceano (it) m
• Japanese: 大洋 (ja) (たいよう, taiyō), 海洋 (ja) (かいよう, kaiyō), 海 (ja) (うみ, umi)
• Javanese: segara (jv), saganten, samodra (jv)
• Kabuverdianu: mar, osianu
• Kalinga:

  Southern Kalinga: fayfay

• Kalmyk: дала (dala)
• Kannada: ಸಮುದ್ರ (kn) (samudra), ಮಹಾಸಾಗರ (mahāsāgara)
• Kapampangan: kadayatmalatan, kedayatmalatan, karayatmalatan, kerayatmalatan
• Karakalpak: okean (kaa)
• Kazakh: мұхит (kk) (muxıyt)
• Khmer: មហាសមុទ្រ (mĕəʼhaasaʼmot), សមុទ្រ (km) (saʼmot), សាគរ (km) (saakɔɔ)
• Korean: 대양(大洋) (ko) (daeyang), 바다 (ko) (bada)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ئۆقیانووس (oqyanûs)

  Northern Kurdish: okyanûs (ku)

• Kyrgyz: океан (ky) (okean)
• Lao: ມະຫາສະໝຸດ (lo) (ma hā sa mut)
• Latin: ōceanus m
• Latvian: okeāns (lv)
• Lithuanian: okeanas m, vandenynas (lt) m
• Luganda: enyanjja, enenne
• Luiseño: móomat
• Lushootseed: x̌ʷəlč
• Macedonian: океа́н (mk) m (okeán)
• Malagasy: oseana (mg), ranomasina (mg)
• Malay: lautan (ms), samudera (ms), segara (ms)

  Brunei Malay: lautan

• Malayalam: സമുദ്രം (ml) (samudraṁ), സാഗരം (ml) (sāgaraṁ)
• Maltese: oċean m
• Manchu: ᠨᠠᠮᡠ (namu)
• Manx: faarkey m
• Māori: moana (mi), moana pīpipi, moana waiwai, moana tuauriuri
• Maranao: kalodan, karodan
• Marathi: महासागर m (mahāsāgar)
• Mauritian Creole: losean
• Mirandese: ouceano m
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: далай (mn) (dalai)

  Mongolian script: ᠳᠠᠯᠠᠢ (dalai)

• Nahuatl: ilhuicaatl (nah)
• Navajo: tónteel
• Nepali: महासागर (ne) (mahāsāgar)
• Norman: ochéan m (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: verdenshav n, osean n

  Nynorsk: verdshav n, osean n

• Occitan: ocean (oc) m
• Odia: ମହାସାଗର (mahāsāgara)
• Old English: gārseċġ m
• Pali: samudda m
• Pannonian Rusyn: океан m (okean)
• Pashto: سمندر (ps) (samandar)
• Persian:

  Dari: اُقْیَانُوس (uqyānūs), زِرَاه (zirāh), زَرَاه (zarāh), قَامُوس (qāmūs)

  Iranian Persian: اُقْیانوس (oġyânus), زِراه (zerâh), زَراه (zarâh), قاموس (fa) (ġâmus)

• Plautdietsch: Mäa n, Ozean m
• Polish: ocean (pl) m
• Pomo:

  Kashaya: ʔahqʰa

• Portuguese: oceano (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਮਹਾਂਸਾਗਰ (mahānsāgar)
• Quechua: mama qucha
• Rohingya: cáigor
• Romanian: ocean (ro) n
• Russian: океа́н (ru) m (okeán)
• Rwanda-Rundi: inyanja class 9/10 (Rwanda), iki-yaga (Rundi)
• Sami:

  Northern Sami: mearra, áhpi

• Samoan: vasa
• Sanskrit: समुद्र (sa) m (samudra), धीर (sa) m (dhīra)
• Sardinian: mari
• Scottish Gaelic: aigeann m, cuan m, cuan mòr m, fairge f, an fhairge mhòr f, muir f, tàbh m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: окѐа̄н m оцѐа̄н m

  Latin: okèān (sh) m, ocèān (sh) m

• Shan: ပၢင်ႇလၢႆႇ (shn) (pàang làai)
• Sicilian: ucèanu (scn) m
• Silesian: ôcean m
• Sindhi: ساگر (sd) m (sâgaru)
• Sinhalese: සාගරය (si) (sāgaraya)
• Slovak: oceán m
• Slovene: ocean (sl) m
• Somali: badweyn (so) f
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: ocean m

• Spanish: océano (es) m
• Sundanese: jaladri (su)
• Swahili: bahari (sw)
• Swedish: ocean (sv) c, världshav (sv) n
• Tagalog: karagatan (tl)
• Tajik: уқёнус (tg) (uqyonus)
• Tamil: பெருங்கடல் (ta) (peruṅkaṭal), ஆழி (ta) (āḻi)
• Tarifit: rebḥar m
• Tatar: океан (okean)
• Telugu: మహా సముద్రం (mahā samudraṁ)
• Tetum: tasi
• Thai: มหาสมุทร (th) (má-hǎa-sà-mùt)
• Tibetan: རྒྱ་མཚོ (rgya mtsho)
• Tigrinya: ውቅያኖስ (wəḳyanos)
• Tlingit: éil'
• Tocharian A: sāmudtär
• Tocharian B: samudtär, lyam
• Tok Pisin: solwara
• Tongan: 'oseni, tahi
• Tumbuka: mbwani class 9
• Tupinambá: paranã
• Turkish: okyanus (tr), ana deniz (tr)
• Turkmen: okean, de–iz
• Udmurt: океан (okean)
• Ukrainian: океа́н (uk) m (okeán)
• Unami: kitahikàn
• Urdu: بَحْر (ur) m (bahr), مُحِیط (muhīt), سَمَنْدَر m (samandar), سَمُنْدَر (samundar), ساگَر m (sāgar), قامُوس (ur) m (qāmūs), اُقْیانُوس (uqyānūs)
• Uyghur: ئوكيان (okyan)
• Uzbek: okean (uz), muhit (uz)
• Venda: please add this translation if you can
• Venetan: oçeano m
• Vietnamese: đại dương (vi) (大洋)
• Volapük: sean (vo)
• Võro: suurmeri
• Walloon: oceyan (wa)
• Welsh: cefnfor (cy) m, eigion m
• Wolof: mbàmbulaan (wo)
• Xhosa: ulwandlekazi
• Yakut: океан (okean)
• Yiddish: ים m (yam), אָקעאַן m (okean)
• Yoruba: òkun
• Yup'ik: imarpik
• Zhuang: haijyangz
• Zulu: ulwandle (zu) class 11/10

water from an ocean

• French: océan (fr) m
• Haitian Creole: oseyan
• Norman: ochéan m
• Polish: ocean (pl) m
• Romanian: ocean (ro) n
• Tok Pisin: solwara

immense expanse

• French: océan (fr) m
• Kabuverdianu: mar
• Norman: ochéan m
• Polish: ocean (pl) m
• Romanian: ocean (ro) n
• Sami:

  Northern Sami: áhpi

See also

• lake
• sea

References

• ocean on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• acone, canoe

Danish

Etymology

from Latin Ōceanus, from Ancient Greek Ὠκεανός (Ōkeanós)

Noun

ocean n (singular definite oceanet, plural indefinite oceaner)

1. ocean
2. (figurative) abundance (immense amount)

Declension

Declension of ocean

neuter gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	ocean	oceanet	oceaner	oceanerne
genitive	oceans	oceanets	oceaners	oceanernes

Derived terms

• oceanisk
• oceanblå

See also

• sø
• hav
• verdenshav

References

• “ocean” in Den Danske Ordbog

Occitan

Etymology

Etymology tree

substrateder.

Ancient Greek Ὠκεανός (Ōkeanós)

Ancient Greek ὠκεᾰνός (ōkeănós)bor.

Latin ōceanusder.

Occitan ocean

Derived from Latin ōceanus m.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /u.seˈan/

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

Noun

ocean m (plural oceans)

1. ocean

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Related terms

• oceanic
• oceanografia f

Further reading

• Joan de Cantalausa (2006), Diccionari general occitan a partir dels parlars lengadocians‎^[1], 2nd edition, →ISBN, page 686

Polish

oceany

Etymology

Etymology tree

substrateder.

Ancient Greek Ὠκεᾰνός (Ōkeănós)der.

Latin Ōceanuslbor.

Polish ocean

Learned borrowing from Latin Ōceanus. Doublet of Okeanos.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔˈt͡sɛ.an/, /ˈɔ.t͡sɛ.an/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛan, -ɔt͡sɛan
• Syllabification: o‧ce‧an
• Homophone: Ocean

Noun

ocean m inan (related adjective oceaniczny or oceanowy)

1. ocean (one of the large bodies of water separating the continents)
2. ocean (water belonging to an ocean)
3. (figurative) ocean (immense expanse; any vast space or quantity without apparent limits)

Declension

Declension of ocean

	singular	plural
nominative	ocean	oceany
genitive	oceanu	oceanów
dative	oceanowi	oceanom
accusative	ocean	oceany
instrumental	oceanem	oceanami
locative	oceanie	oceanach
vocative	oceanie	oceany

Related terms

adverbs

• oceanicznie

nouns

• oceanarium
• oceaniczność

Further reading

• “ocean”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[2] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “ocean”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[3] (in Polish)
• ocean in PWN's encyclopedia

Anagrams

• ocena

Romanian

Alternative forms

• очеан (ocean) — post-1930s Cyrillic spelling

Etymology

Etymology tree

substrateder.

Ancient Greek Ὠκεανός (Ōkeanós)

Ancient Greek ὠκεᾰνός (ōkeănós)bor.

Latin ōceanuslbor.

French océanbor.

▲

Latin ōceanuslbor.

▲

Latin ōceanuslbor.

German Ozeanbor.

Romanian ocean

Borrowed from French océan, and a learned borrowing from Latin ōceanus, and borrowed from German Ozean.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oˈt͡ʃan/
• Rhymes: -an
• Hyphenation: o‧cean

Noun

ocean n (plural oceane)

1. ocean

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	ocean	oceanul	oceane	oceanele
genitive-dative	ocean	oceanului	oceane	oceanelor
vocative	oceanule		oceanelor

Derived terms

• Oceanul Pacific n

Further reading

• “ocean”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

• okèān (Serbia, Bosnia)

Etymology

From Latin Ōceanus, from Ancient Greek Ὠκεανός (Ōkeanós, “Oceanus”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ot͡sěaːn/
• Hyphenation: o‧ce‧an

Noun

ocèān m inan (Cyrillic spelling оцѐа̄н, relational adjective ocèānskī)

1. (Croatia) ocean

Declension

Declension of ocean

	singular	plural
nominative	ocèān	oceani
genitive	oceána	oceana
dative	oceanu	oceanima
accusative	ocean	oceane
vocative	oceane	oceani
locative	oceanu	oceanima
instrumental	oceanom	oceanima

Slovene

Etymology

From Latin Ōceanus, from Ancient Greek Ὠκεανός (Ōkeanós, “Oceanus”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔt͡sɛàːn/

Noun

oceán m inan

1. (geography) ocean

Declension

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Masculine inan., hard o-stem
nom. sing.	oceán
gen. sing.	oceána
	singular	dual	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	oceán	oceána	oceáni
genitive (rodȋlnik)	oceána	oceánov	oceánov
dative (dajȃlnik)	oceánu	oceánoma	oceánom
accusative (tožȋlnik)	oceán	oceána	oceáne
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	oceánu	oceánih	oceánih
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	oceánom	oceánoma	oceáni

Further reading

• “ocean”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran
• “ocean”, in Termania, Amebis
• See also the general references

Swedish

Noun

ocean c

1. (countable) an ocean (very large sea)

   Synonym: världshav

2. (uncountable) ocean (water belonging to an ocean)
3. (figuratively) an ocean (immense expanse or amount)

Declension

Declension of ocean

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	ocean	oceans
	definite	oceanen	oceanens
plural	indefinite	oceaner	oceaners
	definite	oceanerna	oceanernas

Derived terms

• Indiska oceanen (“the Indian Ocean”)

See also

• hav (“sea”)
• sjö

References

• “ocean”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “ocean”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “ocean”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)