Meanings
nounpermafrost (countable and uncountable, plural permafrosts)
plural permafrosts
- countableuncountablePermanently frozen ground, or a specific layer thereof.
Nevertheless, the water molecule is present, as ice, in a solid form in frozen soils or permafrosts, which cover large regions characterised by a polar climate.
2003, Johannes C. Nonner, Introduction to Hydrogeology, →ISBN, page 1571 more example
In agreement with our overall trends within the permafrost samples, lower nirK and nirS and higher nosZ diversity have been identified in cryoturbated peat vs. unturbated peat soils (Palmer and Horn, 2012).
2015 July 21, Christopher R. Penton et al., “Denitrifying and diazotrophic community responses to artificial warming in permafrost and tallgrass prairie soils”, in Frontiers in Microbiology, volume 6, →DOI
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*per-
- Proto-Italic*peri-
- Latinper-
- Proto-Indo-European*men-
- Proto-Indo-European*m̥néh₁yeti
- Proto-Italic*m(V)nēō
- Latinmaneō
- Latinpermaneō
- Middle Frenchpermanent
- Englishpermanentclip.
- Englishperma-
- Proto-Indo-European*prews-
- Proto-Indo-European*prustós
- Proto-Germanic*frustaz
- Proto-West Germanic*frost
- Old Englishfrost
- Middle Englishfrost
- Englishfrost
- Englishpermafrost
Translations
Arabic تُرْبَةٌ صَقِيعِيّة, أَرْض جُمُودِيَّة
- تُرْبَةٌ صَقِيعِيّة (turbatun ṣaqīʕiyya)permanently frozen ground
- أَرْض جُمُودِيَّة (ʔarḍ jumūdiyya)permanently frozen ground
Bulgarian ве́чна замръ́зналост
- ве́чна замръ́зналост (véčna zamrắznalost)permanently frozen ground
Catalan pergelisòl
- pergelisòlpermanently frozen ground
Chinese Mandarin 永久凍土 /永久冻土
- 永久凍土 /永久冻土 (yǒngjiǔ dòngtǔ)permanently frozen ground
Czech permafrost
- permafrostpermanently frozen ground
Danish permafrost
- permafrostpermanently frozen ground
Dutch permafrost
- permafrostpermanently frozen ground
Estonian igikelts, kirsmaa
- igikeltspermanently frozen ground
- kirsmaapermanently frozen ground
Finnish ikirouta
- ikiroutapermanently frozen ground
French pergélisol, permafrost
- pergélisolpermanently frozen ground
- permafrostpermanently frozen ground
German Permafrostboden, Permafrost
- Permafrostbodenpermanently frozen ground
- Permafrostpermanently frozen ground
Greek πέρμαφροστ, περμαφρόστ
- πέρμαφροστ (pérmafrost)permanently frozen ground
- περμαφρόστ (permafróst)permanently frozen ground
Hebrew קפאת־עד, קפאון־עד
- קפאת־עד (kif'at-ád)permanently frozen ground
- קפאון־עד (kif'on-ád)permanently frozen ground
Hindi पर्माफ़्रोस्ट
- पर्माफ़्रोस्ट (parmāfrosṭ)permanently frozen ground
Hungarian permafroszt
- permafrosztpermanently frozen ground
Icelandic sífreri
- sífreripermanently frozen ground
Indonesian ibun abadi
- ibun abadipermanently frozen ground
Irish talamh síorshioctha, talamh shíorshioctha
- talamh síorshiocthapermanently frozen ground
- talamh shíorshiocthapermanently frozen ground
Italian permafrost, permagelo
- permafrostpermanently frozen ground
- permagelopermanently frozen ground
- permaghiacciopermanently frozen ground
Japanese 永久凍土
- 永久凍土 (eikyūtōdo)permanently frozen ground
Korean 영구동토
- 영구동토 (yeonggudongto)permanently frozen ground
Latvian mūžīgais sasalums
- mūžīgais sasalumspermanently frozen ground
Lithuanian amžinasis įšalas
- amžinasis įšalaspermanently frozen ground
Malay ibun abadi
- ibun abadipermanently frozen ground
Māori upokomārō pūmau
- upokomārō pūmaupermanently frozen ground
Norwegian Bokmål permafrost
- permafrostpermanently frozen ground
Polish wieczna zmarzlina
- wieczna zmarzlinapermanently frozen ground
Portuguese permafrost
- permafrostpermanently frozen ground
Romanian permafrost
- permafrostpermanently frozen ground
Russian ве́чная мерзлота́, многоле́тняя мерзлота́
- ве́чная мерзлота́ (véčnaja merzlotá)permanently frozen ground
- многоле́тняя мерзлота́ (mnogolétnjaja merzlotá)permanently frozen ground
Slovak permafrost
- permafrostpermanently frozen ground
Spanish permafrost, permacongelamiento
- permafrostpermanently frozen ground
- permacongelamientopermanently frozen ground
- permagelpermanently frozen ground
- pergelisuelopermanently frozen ground
- pergelisolpermanently frozen ground
- permahielopermanently frozen ground
- gelisuelopermanently frozen ground
Swedish permafrost
- permafrostpermanently frozen ground
Ukrainian багаторі́чна мерзлота́, ві́чна мерзлота́
- багаторі́чна мерзлота́ (bahatoríčna merzlotá)permanently frozen ground
- ві́чна мерзлота́ (víčna merzlotá)permanently frozen ground
Welsh rhew parhaol, iâ parhaol
- rhew parhaolpermanently frozen ground
- iâ parhaolpermanently frozen ground
Cite this entry
APA
permafrost. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/permafrost
MLA
“permafrost.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/permafrost. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “permafrost,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/permafrost.
Source: permafrost on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.