peninsula
/pəˈnɪnsələ/puh-NIN-suh-luh
/pəˈnɪnsələ/puh-NIN-suh-luh
Meaningalmost an island
Common meaning: land almost surrounded by water
- penalmostLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1289 · scan
- insulaan islandLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 971 · scan
‘almost’ + ‘an island’ → peninsula
Journey through time
Neither part’s path through time is traced in our sources yet; each root is shown from its dictionary entry.
- pen — Latin paene “almost” (dictionary form; path not traced)
- insula — Latin īnsula “an island” (dictionary form; path not traced)
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Built on Latin paene ‘almost’ + Latin īnsula ‘an island’.
Did you know: our wording, based on Lewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), entry īnsula, p. 971 · dictionary scan
Roots
Related words
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