Japanese

Alternative forms

• 津浪, 海嘯

Noun

津波 ‎(hiragana つなみ, romaji tsunami)

1. (oceanography) a tsunami, a tidal wave (large, destructive wave generally caused by a tremendous disturbance in the ocean)^[5]
2. (hydrology, less common) a tidal bore

Usage notes

The 海嘯 spelling is specific to the tidal bore sense.^[4]

This term is sometimes encountered as the compound 地震津波 ‎(jishin tsunami, literally “earthquake tsunami”), to make the meaning more explicitly clear and disambiguate from the tidal bore sense.

Derived terms

Synonyms

See also

• 地震 (じしん) ‎(jishin): an earthquake
• 洪水 (こうずい) ‎(kōzui): a flood

References

1. ↑ 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. 1 2 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
3. ↑ 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3
4. 1 2 1997, 新明解国語辞典 (Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten), Fifth Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13143-0
5. ↑ 2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, ISBN 4095102535.