El Niño

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See also: El Nino

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Spanish El Niño (literally “The Little Boy”), used by South American fishermen in the 17th century, referring to the Christ child, as the phenomenon is observed around Christmas time.[1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɛl ˈniːn.joʊ/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Proper noun

El Niño (plural El Niños)

  1. An invasion of warm water into the surface of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Peru and Ecuador, the positive phase of the multi-year ENSO cycle, which causes changes in local and regional climate.
    • 2007 May 23, Houston Chronicle:
      Additionally, scientists aren’t expecting to be surprised again by El Niño, a warming of the Pacific Ocean that tends to dampen Atlantic hurricane activity.
    • 2020 July 23, Abrahm Lustgarten, “The Great Climate Migration”, in New York Times‎:
      The odd weather phenomenon that many blame for the suffering here — the drought and sudden storm pattern known as El Niño — is expected to become more frequent as the planet warms.
    • 2023 July 12, Catrin Einhorn, Elena Shao, “How Hot Is the Sea Off Florida Right Now? Think 90s Fahrenheit.”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:
      In part, that’s because the planet is entering a natural climate phenomenon known as El Niño, which typically brings warmer oceans. But now, El Niño is coming on top of long-term warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions.
    • 2024 May 6, Lauren Herdman, “Weather tracker: torrential rainstorms cause death and destruction in Brazil”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:
      El Niño is also partially responsible for the ongoing catastrophic rainfall in east Africa, which began in March and has caused devastating flooding in Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, Rwanda and Burundi.

Antonyms

Hyponyms

Translations

References

  1. ^ “El Niño and La Niña, Explained”, in The New York Times‎, 2023 July 18, →ISSN

Further reading

Anagrams

Cebuano

Noun

El Niño

  1. (climatology) El Niño

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:El Niño.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish El Niño.

Pronunciation

Proper noun

El Niño m

  1. (meteorology) El Niño

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Spanish El Niño.

Pronunciation

 
 

Proper noun

El Niño m (plural El Niños)

  1. (meteorology) El Niño (a global coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon)

Spanish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /el ˈniɲo/
  • Syllabification: El Ni‧ño

Proper noun

El Niño m

  1. the Christ child
  2. (climatology) El Niño (ocean current)

Usage notes

  • As a proper noun named after a proper noun, the El Niño ocean current is preceded by the uncontracted particles a and de rather than using al and del:
    El libro del niño me enseñó sobre la oscilación de El Niño.
    The boy's book taught me about the El Niño oscillation.

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish El Niño.

Pronunciation

Proper noun

El Niño (Baybayin spelling ᜁᜎ᜔ ᜈᜒᜈ᜔ᜌᜓ)

  1. El Niño (a global coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon)

Further reading

Turkish

Proper noun

El Niño (definite accusative El Niño'yu, plural El Niño'lar)

  1. (meteorology) El Niño (ocean current)
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