amphibious

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀμφίβιος (amphíbios). From ἀμφί (amphí) + βίος (bíos, “life”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [æmˈfɪbi.əs]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

amphibious (not comparable)

1. Capable of functioning on land or in water.

   Synonym: amphibian

   Coordinate terms: triphibious, omniphibious

   an amphibious vehicle

   • 1898, The Outlook, volume 60, page 281:

     Most Dutch cities began on a terp or artificial mound to which the prehistoric amphibious folk rushed for refuge when floods rolled in.

2. Occurring on both land and water.

   an amphibious attack

   • 2022 September 30, “Taiwan adds new amphibious warfare ship to defence inventory”, in Al Jazeera‎^[1], archived from the original on 30 September 2022‎^[2]:

     Taiwan’s navy has taken delivery of a new, domestically made amphibious warfare ship that can be used to land troops and bolster supply lines to vulnerable islands, part of a push by Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen to achieve defence self-sufficiency.

3. (sports, humorous) Ambidextrous.

Derived terms

• amphibious car
• amphibiously
• amphibiousness
• amphibiousness
• amtrac
• nonamphibious
• omniphibious
• semiamphibious
• triphibious

 

Related terms

• amphibian (noun)

Translations

capable of functioning on land or in water

• Asturian: anfibiu (ast)
• Catalan: amfibi (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 兩棲／两栖 (zh) (liǎngqī)

• Czech: obojživelný (cs)
• Dutch: amfibisch (nl)
• Esperanto: amfibia (eo)
• Finnish: amfibinen (fi)
• French: amphibie (fr)
• German: amphibisch (de)
• Greek: αμφίβιος (el) (amfívios)

  Ancient: ἀμφίβιος (amphíbios)

• Irish: amfaibiach, débheathach, loscánta
• Italian: anfibio (it)
• Latin: amphibius
• Macedonian: водозе́мен (vodozémen)
• Malay: dualam, amfibia (ms)
• Polish: amfibijny
• Portuguese: anfíbio (pt)
• Russian: земново́дный (ru) (zemnovódnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: muir-thìreach, dà-bheathach, dà-bhitheach
• Spanish: anfibio (es)
• Swedish: amfibisk (sv)
• Welsh: tir a môr

occurring on both land and water

• Asturian: anfibiu (ast)
• Catalan: amfibi (ca)
• Finnish: amfibio-
• Irish: amfaibiach
• Macedonian: водозе́мен (vodozémen)
• Polish: amfibijny
• Portuguese: anfíbio (pt)
• Welsh: amffibiaidd (cy)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} amfibisch (nl)
• French: ^{(please verify)} amphibie (fr)
• German: ^{(please verify)} amphibisch (de)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} anfibio (it)
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 水陸両用
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 수륙 양용 (suryuk yang'yong)
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} amfibijski (sh)