Meanings
glacier1
nounglacier (plural glaciers)
plural glaciers
- geographyA large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill.
They warned that the effects of glacier melting on water resources are becoming “increasingly serious” for China.
- hobbiesAn area of a mountain where snow is present year-round.
You can ski down the glacier in both the winter and the summer.
- figurativelySomething that moves very slowly
The queue in the pharmacy was a glacier.
Glacier2
proper noun
- A locality in the Rocky Mountains, British Columbia, Canada.
Origin
- Latinglaciēs“ice”
- Vulgar Latin*glaciārium
- Franco-Provençalgllaciér
- Frenchglacier
- Englishglacier
Borrowed from French glacier, from Franco-Provençal gllaciér, from Vulgar Latin *glaciārium, a derivative of Latin glaciēs (“ice”), of uncertain origin. First attested in English in 1744 per the OED.
More words from French, Franco-Provençal, Vulgar Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans gletser
- gletsera large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Arabic مَثْلَجَة, مَجْلَدَة
- مَثْلَجَة (maṯlaja)a large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
- مَجْلَدَة (majlada)a large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Basque glaziar
- glaziara large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Bengali হিমবাহ
- হিমবাহ (himbaho)a large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Bulgarian ле́дник
- ле́дник (lédnik)a large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Catalan glacera
- glaceraa large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Chinese Cantonese 冰川, 冰河
- 冰川 (bing¹ cyun¹)a large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
- 冰河 (bing¹ ho⁴)a large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Chinese Mandarin 冰川, 冰河
- 冰川 (bīngchuān)a large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
- 冰河 (bīnghé)a large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Czech ledovec
- ledoveca large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Danish gletsjer, jøkel
- gletsjera large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
- jøkela large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
- bræa large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Dutch gletsjer
- gletsjera large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Esperanto glaĉero, glaciaro
- glaĉeroa large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
- glaciaroa large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
- glaciejoa large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Estonian liustik
- liustika large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Finnish jäätikkö
- jäätikköa large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
French glacier
- glaciera large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
German Gletscher, Ferner
- Gletschera large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
- Fernera large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
- Keesa large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Greek παγετώνας
- παγετώνας (pagetónas)a large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Hebrew קַרְחוֹן
- קַרְחוֹן (karkhón)a large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Hindi हिमानी, हिमनदी
- हिमानी (himānī)a large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
- हिमनदी (himandī)a large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Hungarian gleccser
- gleccsera large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Icelandic jökull, ísbreiða
- jökulla large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
- ísbreiðaa large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Indonesian gletser, sungai es
- gletsera large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
- sungai esa large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Irish oighearshruth
- oighearshrutha large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Italian ghiacciaio
- ghiacciaioa large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Japanese 氷河
- 氷河 (hyōga)a large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Korean 빙하
- 빙하 (bingha)a large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Latin glaciarium, glacier
- glaciariuma large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
- glaciera large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Latvian ledājs
- ledājsa large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Lithuanian ledynas
- ledynasa large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Malay glasier, sungai air batu
- glasiera large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
- sungai air batua large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Māori hukāpo
- hukāpoa large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Norwegian Bokmål bre, isbre
- brea large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
- isbrea large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
- jøkela large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Polish lodowiec
- lodowieca large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Portuguese glaciar, geleira
- glaciara large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
- geleiraa large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Romanian ghețar
- ghețara large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Russian ледни́к, гле́тчер
- ледни́к (ledník)a large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
- гле́тчер (glétčer)a large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Scottish Gaelic eigh-shruth
- eigh-shrutha large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Slovak ľadovec
- ľadoveca large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Spanish glaciar, helero
- glaciara large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
- heleroa large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Swahili barafuto
- barafutoa large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Swedish glaciär, jökel
- glaciära large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
- jökela large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Tagalog glasyar
- glasyara large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Tamil பனியாறு
- பனியாறு (paṉiyāṟu)a large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Thai ธารน้ำแข็ง
- ธารน้ำแข็ง (taan-nám-kɛ̌ng)a large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Turkish buzul
- buzula large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Ukrainian льодови́к
- льодови́к (lʹodovýk)a large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Urdu گِلیشِیَر
- گِلیشِیَر (gileśiyar)a large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Vietnamese sông băng
- sông bănga large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Welsh rhewlif
- rhewlifa large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Yiddish גלעטשער
- גלעטשער (gletsher)a large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill
Rhymes & wordplay
Sounds the same
glassier (without the trap–bath split)
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
glacier. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glacier
MLA
“glacier.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glacier. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “glacier,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glacier.
Source: glacier on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.