Word of the Day

: December 14, 2006

pelagic

adjective puh-LAJ-ik

What It Means

: of, relating to, or living or occurring in the open sea : oceanic

pelagic in Context

"Pelagic birds, seldom seen on land, soar offshore for the eager birder." (William Longgood, The New York Times, April 1984)

Did You Know?

"Pelagic" comes to us from Greek, via Latin. The Greek word "pelagikos" became "pelagicus" in Latin and then "pelagic" in English. ("Pelagikos" is derived from "pelagos," the Greek word for "sea," plus the adjectival suffix "-ikos.") "Pelagic" first showed up in dictionaries in 1656; a definition from that time says that "Pelagick" meant "of the Sea, or that liveth in the Sea." A full 350 years later, writers are still using "pelagic" with the same meaning, albeit less frequently than its more familiar synonym "oceanic."