Meanings
seafaring1
comparative more seafaring · superlative most seafaring
- Living one's life at sea.
1 more example
There was absolutely nothing about the body to suggest that it might possibly in life have known a maritime experience. It was the body of a low type of man or a high type of beast. In neither instance would it have been of a seafaring race. Therefore I deduced that it was native to Caprona--that it lived inland, and that it had fallen or been hurled from the cliffs above.
1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter IV, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC
seafaring2
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveused on the high seas
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
seafaring · adjective
- Middle Englishsafarinde
- Englishseafaring
From Middle English safarinde, see farand, se farinde, equivalent to sea + faring (“travelling; journeying; going”). Compare Old English sǣ-līþende (“seafaring”). Cognate with Dutch zeevarend (“seafaring”), German Low German seefahrend (“seafaring”), German seefahrend (“seafaring”), Danish søfarende (“seafaring”), Swedish sjöfarande (“seafaring”).
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ναυτικός, ποντόπορος
- ναυτικός (nautikós)following a life at sea
- ποντόπορος (pontóporos)following a life at sea
Bulgarian моряшки, мореходен
- моряшки (morjaški)following a life at sea
- мореходен (morehoden)fit to travel on the sea; seagoing
- мореплаване (moreplavane)work or calling of a sailor
Esperanto marista
- maristafollowing a life at sea
Finnish merenkulkija-, merenkulku
- merenkulkija-following a life at sea
- merenkulkuwork or calling of a sailor
Latin permarīnus, permarīnus
- permarīnusfollowing a life at sea
- permarīnusfit to travel on the sea; seagoing
Norwegian Bokmål sjøfarende
- sjøfarendefollowing a life at sea
Polish żeglarski, dalekomorski
- żeglarskifollowing a life at sea
- dalekomorskifit to travel on the sea; seagoing
- żeglugathe act, process, or practice of travelling the seas
- żeglugawork or calling of a sailor
Russian морехо́дный, морепла́вание
- морехо́дный (morexódnyj)following a life at sea
- морепла́вание (moreplávanije)the act, process, or practice of travelling the seas
- морехо́дство (morexódstvo)the act, process, or practice of travelling the seas
Scottish Gaelic cuantach
- cuantachfollowing a life at sea
Spanish navegante, nauta
- navegantefollowing a life at sea
- nautafollowing a life at sea
Ukrainian морепла́вання, морепла́вство
- морепла́вання (moreplávannja)the act, process, or practice of travelling the seas
- морепла́вство (moreplávstvo)the act, process, or practice of travelling the seas
Cite this entry
seafaring. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/seafaring
“seafaring.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/seafaring. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “seafaring,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/seafaring.
Source: seafaring on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.