supercontinent

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *úp

Proto-Indo-European *-er

Proto-Indo-European *upér

Proto-Italic *super

Latin super

Latin super-lbor.

English super-

English continent

English supercontinent

From super- + continent.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

supercontinent (plural supercontinents)

1. (geology) A very large continent that split into smaller ones in the Earth’s geologic past.
   • 2001, Kent C. Condie, Mantle Plumes and Their Record in Earth History, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 237:

     For a supercontinent to form requires a significant volume of continental crustal fragments that survive recycling into the mantle.

   • 2022 February 3, Lucas Joel, “Dissolving in Toxic Oceans: How an Ancient Extinction Happened”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN, archived from the original on 16 March 2022:

     Some 200 million years ago, the rocks that became the Palisades cliffs just across the Hudson River from Manhattan formed during volcanic activity that helped rip apart the ancient supercontinent Pangea.

2. A modern landmass composed of multiple continents, i.e. Afro-Eurasia or the Americas.

   Coordinate term: subcontinent

Derived terms

• supercontinent cycle

Translations

very large continent in the Earth's past

• Dutch: supercontinent (nl) n, oercontinent n
• Esperanto: kotinentego, superkontinento
• Estonian: hiidmanner
• Finnish: jättiläismanner
• French: supercontinent (fr) m
• Georgian: სუპერკონტინენტი (suṗerḳonṭinenṭi)
• German: Superkontinent m
• Greek: υπερήπειρος f (yperípeiros)
• Japanese: 超大陸 (ja) (ちょうたいりく, chōtairiku)
• Norwegian: superkontinent c
• Portuguese: supercontinente (pt) m
• Russian: суперконтине́нт (ru) m (superkontinént)
• Spanish: supercontinente m
• Swedish: superkontinent (sv)
• Thai: มหาทวีป

one of modern landmasses

• Danish: superkontinent n
• Dutch: supercontinent (nl) n
• Estonian: hiidmanner
• Finnish: suurmanner
• French: supercontinent (fr) m
• Galician: please add this translation if you can
• German: Doppelkontinent (de) m
• Greek: υπερήπειρος f (yperípeiros)
• Portuguese: supercontinente (pt) m
• Russian: суперконтине́нт (ru) m (superkontinént)
• Spanish: supercontinente m
• Swedish: superkontinent (sv)
• Thai: มหาทวีป

See also

• Pangaea

Further reading

• supercontinent on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Dutch

Etymology

From super- +‎ continent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsy.pər.kɔn.tiˌnɛnt/
• Hyphenation: su‧per‧con‧ti‧nent

Noun

supercontinent n (plural supercontinenten, no diminutive)

1. (geology) supercontinent (large landmass consisting of multiple continents or an extremely large continent in a planet's geologic past)

Hyponyms

• oercontinent

French

Etymology

From super- +‎ continent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sy.pɛʁ.kɔ̃.ti.nɑ̃/

• Audio (Belgium):

  (file)

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

Noun

supercontinent m (plural supercontinents)

1. (geology) supercontinent

   Hypernym: continent

   Hyponyms: Afro-Eurasie, Eurasie, Nuna, Pangée

   Meronym: craton