permafrozen

P3E1R1M3A1F4R1O1Z10E1N1

adjective

permanently frozen

OriginEnglish frozen ← Middle French permanent ← Latin permaneō →
Scrabble 27
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Meanings

adjectivepermafrozen (not comparable)
  1. not comparablepermanently frozen

    With the very long winter, permafrozen soil, and low evaporation, the soil is waterlogged.

    1980, Robert Auty, Companion to Russian Studies: An Introduction to Russian History, page 11
    2 more examples

    Piece of cake? her mind screeched. Piece of ten-million-year-old permafrozen glacier, maybe.

    2006, Terri Farley, Phantom Stallion #21, page 210

    Pingos form by the penetration of unfrozen but saturated sands to the surface through a layer of permafrozen ground.

    2001, Graham Taylor, R.A. Eggleton, Regolith Geology and Geomorphology, page 239

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
permafrosted

Origin

  1. Latinper-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*men-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*m̥néh₁yeti
  4. Proto-Italic*m(V)nēō
  5. Latinmaneō
  6. Latinpermaneō
  7. Middle Frenchpermanent
  8. Englishpermanentclip.
  9. Englishperma-
  10. Englishfrozen
  11. Englishpermafrozen

From perma- + frozen.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

permafrozen. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/permafrozen

MLA

“permafrozen.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/permafrozen. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “permafrozen,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/permafrozen.

Source: permafrozen on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.