rainforest

See also: rain forest

English

Rainforest in Daintree National Park, Australia

Alternative forms

• rain forest

Etymology

From rain +‎ forest, a calque of German Regenwald.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹeɪn.fɒɹ.ɪst/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹeɪn.fɔɹ.ɪst/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (US):

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Noun

rainforest (countable and uncountable, plural rainforests)

1. A forest in a climate with high annual rainfall and no dry season.
   • 2002, Chris C. Park, Tropical Rainforests, page 27:

     Perhaps the most impressive expression of species diversity is the density of species found in a given area of rainforest.

   • 2004, Nigel E. Stork, “24: The Theory and Practice of Planning for Long-Term Conservation of Biodiversity of Wet Tropics Rainforests in Australia”, in Eldredge Bermingham, Christopher W. Dick, Craig Moritz, editors, Tropical Rainforests: Past, Present, and Future, page 508:

     Tropical rainforests in Australia have suffered a fate similar in many ways to that of rainforests elsewhere in the world, but considerable progress in safeguarding the future of what remains has been made.

   • 2014, Nick Hunter, Rainforests, page 38:

     Enjoy your visit to the rainforests, because the next time you go there things could be very different.

   • 2021 June 22, Sam Romano, “Rainforests are under siege. Here’s what you should know.”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     Some researchers worry that rainforests will soon reach a tipping point — a point of no return in which the once-lush forests transition to arid regions.

   • 2025 April 4, Lex Harvey and Esha Mitra, “US tourist arrested after allegedly attempting to contact ‘world’s most isolated’ tribe”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     The Sentinelese hunt in the rainforest and fish in the coastal waters using spears, bows and arrows, as well as homemade narrow outrigger canoes, according to Survival International.

Synonyms

• jungle, tropical forest

Derived terms

• nonrainforest
• rainforestation
• rainforested
• rainforestless
• rainforestlike
• rainforest mystic
• temperate rainforest
• tropical rainforest

Translations

type of forest — see also jungle

• Arabic: غَابَة اِسْتِوَائِيَّة f (ḡāba(t) istiwāʔiyya)
• Bulgarian: дъждовна гора f (dăždovna gora)
• Catalan: selva pluvial f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 雨林 (zh) (yǔlín)

• Cornish: koswik law f
• Czech: deštný prales m, deštný les m
• Danish: regnskov (da) c
• Dutch: regenwoud (nl) n
• Esperanto: pluvarbaro
• Estonian: vihmamets
• Faroese: regnskógur
• Finnish: sademetsä (fi)
• French: pluvisylve f, pluvisilve f, forêt pluviale f, forêt pluvieuse f, forêt tropicale f
• Georgian: ჭარბტენიანი ტყე (č̣arbṭeniani ṭq̇e), ტროპიკული ტყე (ṭroṗiḳuli ṭq̇e)
• German: Regenwald (de) m
• Greek: τροπικό δάσος (el) n (tropikó dásos), βροχοδάσος (el) n (vrochodásos)
• Hebrew: יער גשם (he)
• Hindi: वर्षावन m (varṣāvan)
• Hungarian: esőerdő (hu)
• Icelandic: regnskógur (is) m
• Irish: foraois bháistí f
• Italian: foresta pluviale f
• Japanese: 雨林 (うりん, urin), 多雨林 (たうりん, taurin)
• Kannada: ಮಳೆಕಾಡು (kn) (maḷekāḍu)
• Latvian: lietus mežs
• Lithuanian: drėgnasis miškas
• Macedonian: дождовна шума f (doždovna šuma)
• Malay: hutan hujan (ms)
• Māori: ngahere pārūrū (in the tropics), ngāoreore
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: ширэнгэн ой (širengen oj)

• Navajo: hodíłchʼil níłtsánígíí
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: regnskog (no) m, regnskau (no) m

  Nynorsk: regnskog m

• Persian: جنگل بارانی (fa)
• Pitcairn-Norfolk: stik
• Polish: las deszczowy (pl) m
• Portuguese: floresta tropical f, floresta húmida f, floresta ombrófila f, floresta pluvial f
• Romanian: pădure tropicală f
• Russian: дождево́й лес m (doždevój les), се́льва (ru) f (sélʹva)
• Sami:

  Northern Sami: arvevuovdi

• Scottish Gaelic: coille-uisge f
• Serbo-Croatian: pràšuma (sh) f
• Slovak: dažďový les m
• Slovene: deževni gozd m
• Spanish: bosque tropical m, bosque hidrofítico m, pluviselva (es) f, foresta pluvial f, foresta pluviosa f
• Swedish: regnskog (sv) c
• Thai: ป่าฝน (bpàa-fǒn), ป่าดิบชื้น (bpàa-dìp-chʉ́ʉn)
• Turkish: yağmur ormanı (tr)
• Ukrainian: дощовий ліс m (doščovyj lis)
• Vietnamese: rừng mưa
• Welsh: fforest law f

Anagrams

• Forsterian, rotiferans