Meanings
plural seiches
- 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
- GermanSeiche“sinking”
- Frenchseiche
- Englishseiche
From Swiss French seiche, perhaps from German Seiche (“sinking”).
More words from French, German
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
seiche. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/seiche
“seiche.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/seiche. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “seiche,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/seiche.
Source: seiche on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.