Confluence

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈkɒn.flu.əns/

Definitions

1. A place where two or more rivers or streams meet and flow together
2. The junction at which multiple bodies of flowing water merge into a single channel
3. The point where separate rivers or streams unite to form one continuous flow

Etymology: The Latin verb "confluere" meant "to flow together," built from "con-" ("together") and "fluere" ("to flow"), the same root that gives English "fluid" and "influence." Its present participle "confluens" was used as a noun for a place where waters meet, and the Late Latin abstract noun "confluentia" grew from it, meaning "a flowing together" or "conflux." English took the word in the late Middle Ages as "confluence," and at first it was not limited to rivers. It described any act of flowing or gathering together, so a crowd or a stream of people could be a confluence just as well as a watercourse. The river sense became dominant over time, and the wider meaning of converging things survives in phrases like a "confluence of events."

Synonyms: meeting, junction