Oceans

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Vast saline water bodies that dominate the planet's surface and host a wide variety of aquatic organisms
2. Extensive stretches of saltwater that are essential to global climate regulation and biodiversity
3. Immense expanses of saltwater covering most of the earth's surface and supporting diverse marine life

Etymology: The surprising part of "ocean" is that the Greeks first meant a river. In Greek myth, Okeanos was a Titan, a son of Heaven and Earth, and his name was attached to a vast river believed to encircle the flat disc of the world. The sea was a separate thing, and the great outer water only came to be called by his name later. The word reached English through Old French "occean" and Latin "Oceanus," which kept the mythological name. English already had its own word for the sea in this sense, "gārseċġ" (Old English for the ocean), but it was displaced. The name stuck in a way the older one did not. Okeanos is therefore a doublet of the Latin name Oceanus: the same word arriving twice, once through Latin and once through French, bringing a Greek deity's name along with it. "Oceans" is simply the plural of this noun.

Synonyms: seas, waters

Antonyms: land