Transoceanic

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˌtɹæn.zəʊ.ʃiˈæn.ɪk/

Definitions

1. Connecting or occurring between two or more continents across an ocean
2. Referring to the movement or exchange of information, goods, or people across large oceanic expanses
3. Relating to something that crosses or covers vast oceanic distances between continents

Etymology: "Transoceanic" is a straightforward compound: the Latin prefix "trans-", meaning "across" or "beyond," attached to "oceanic." The prefix comes from the Proto-Italic "trāns," a form that carried the same sense of crossing over into Latin, where it was used in countless words such as "transire," "to go across." The "oceanic" half traces back to ancient Greek. "Ōkeanós" (Ὠκεανός) was the name of the great river that the Greeks imagined encircling the flat earth, a belief that gave the word its sense of a vast body of water surrounding the land. Latin borrowed it as "ōceanus," and from there English gained "oceanic," derived from the Latin "ōceanicus." Put together, "transoceanic" describes whatever spans or passes across an ocean, joining distant continents. The word is a plain English formation built from these two classical parts, so its history is largely the history of its pieces.