seiche

S1E1I1C3H4E1
UK/seɪʃ/US/sit͡ʃ/

noun

A short-term standing wave oscillation of the water level in a lake, or other confined body of water such as a fjord, characteristic of its geometry.

Scrabble 11

Meanings

nounseiche (plural seiches)

plural seiches

  1. geographyA short-term standing wave oscillation of the water level in a lake, or other confined body of water such as a fjord, characteristic of its geometry.
    1 more example

    In September 2023, we detected the start of a 9-day-long, global . . . very-long-period seismic signal, originating from East Greenland. . . .this event started with a glacial thinning-induced rock-ice avalanche of 25 million cubic meters plunging into Dickson Fjord, triggering a 200-meter-high tsunami. Simulations show that the tsunami stabilized into a 7-meter-high long-duration seiche with a frequency. . .and slow amplitude decay that were nearly identical to the seismic signal. An oscillating, fjord-transverse single force . . . reproduced the seismic amplitudes and their radiation pattern relative to the fjord, demonstrating how a seiche directly caused the 9-day-long seismic signal.

    2024 A rockslide-generated tsunami in a Greenland fjord rang Earth for 9 days. Science 2024 Vol 385, DOI: 10.1126/science.adm9247

Origin

  1. GermanSeiche“sinking”
  2. Frenchseiche
  3. Englishseiche

From Swiss French seiche, perhaps from German Seiche (“sinking”).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Catalan seixa
  • seixastanding wave in a lake
Finnish seiche-ilmiö
  • seiche-ilmiöstanding wave in a lake
German Seiche
  • Seichestanding wave in a lake
Hungarian tólengés
  • tólengésstanding wave in a lake
Italian secca
  • seccastanding wave in a lake
Japanese 静振
  • 静振 (seishin)standing wave in a lake
Russian сейш, сейша
  • сейш (sejš)standing wave in a lake
  • сейша (sejša)standing wave in a lake
Welsh dygyfor llyn, ymchwydd llyn
  • dygyfor llynstanding wave in a lake
  • ymchwydd llynstanding wave in a lake

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with seiche

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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