Wadi

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈwɑdi/

Definitions

1. A type of valley characterized by a bottom that may contain seasonal water flow, typically found in arid zones with surrounding vegetation
2. An often dry channel that fills with water during rare rain events, common in desert environments where it provides intermittent life
3. A valley or dry river channel in arid areas that only carries water during rainy seasons

Etymology: The Arabic word "wādī" meant "valley" or "riverbed" and, in many places, a ravine that carried water only after rain. English borrowed it directly from Arabic, so the word arrived with its physical landscape intact: a channel that looks like a river but usually holds only sand and stones. The term was taken up in English to describe the dry watercourses of North Africa and the Middle East, where flash floods can rush through a valley within hours of a storm and then vanish again. The Arabic root "wadā" (to flow) is the same source the noun grew from, so the word's name describes the water that it only sometimes carries.