riverbed

See also: river-bed and river bed

English

Alternative forms

• river-bed, river bed

Etymology

From river +‎ bed. Compare Dutch rivierbedding (“riverbed”), German Flussbett (“riverbed”), Swedish flodbädd (“riverbed”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɪv.əˌbɛd/
• (General American) enPR: rĭvʹər-bĕd', IPA^(key): /ˈɹɪv.ɚˌbɛd/
• (African-American Vernacular, some speakers) IPA^(key): [ˈɹɪv.ɚˌbeː]
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɪv.əˌbed/
• Hyphenation: riv‧er‧bed

Noun

riverbed (plural riverbeds)

1. (hydrology) The path where a river runs, or where a river once ran; the bottom earthen part of a river, not including the riverbanks.
   • 2014 October 31, David W. Lloyd, “Deep in Vietnam, Exploring a Colossal Cave”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     The Hang En tour involves a difficult daylong trek over limestone mountain paths and along riverbeds to the remote indigenous village of Ban Doong.

   • 2021 September 8, “Network News: West Coast Main Line viaducts reinforced by underwater concrete”, in RAIL, number 939, page 10:

     Detailed laser surveys carried out by Network Rail revealed that fast-flowing water on the River Eden has caused parts of the riverbed to wash away, posing a risk to the viaduct foundations.

Synonyms

• stream bed

Related terms

• wadi
• Terms suffixed with "-bed": creekbed, lakebed, oceanbed, seabed, streambed

Translations

a river bottom

• Albanian: amull (sq)
• Azerbaijani: məcra (az)
• Belarusian: рэ́чышча n (réčyšča)
• Bulgarian: кори́то (bg) n (koríto)
• Catalan: buc (ca) m, llit (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 河床 (zh) (héchuáng), 河槽 (zh) (hécáo)

• Chuvash: ҫул (śul), юхлӑх (juhlăh), варак (varak)
• Classical Nahuatl: ānāntli
• Czech: řečiště (cs) n
• Dutch: rivierbedding (nl) f, rivierbed (nl) n
• French: lit de rivière m
• Galician: madre (gl) f, baltrón m, andurbio m
• German: Flussbett (de) n
• Hungarian: folyómeder (hu)
• Italian: alveo (it), letto (it)
• Japanese: 河床 (かしょう, kashō), 川底 (ja) (かわぞこ, kawazoko)
• Kazakh: арна (arna)
• Komi-Permyak: ӧр (ör)
• Komi-Zyrian: кырас (kyras), ковтыс (kovtys), ю ворга (ju vorga), сёртас (śortas)
• Korean: 하상(河床) (ko) (hasang)
• Macedonian: корито n (korito)
• Manchu: ᡤᠣᠯᠣ (golo)
• Maori: whaiawa, kūkūpango, whakatakere, takere
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: вӱдкорно (vüdkorno)

  Western Mari: вӹд корны (vÿd korny)

• Northern Mansi: ^{(please verify)} я̄с (â̄s)
• Occitan: mair (oc) f
• Old Ruthenian: рѣчище n (rěčišče)
• Polish: koryto (pl) n
• Portuguese: leito (pt) m
• Romanian: albie (ro)
• Russian: ру́сло (ru) n (rúslo)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ко̀рито n

  Latin: kòrito (sh) n

• Slovak: koryto (sk) n
• Slovene: koríto (sl) n
• Spanish: cauce (es), lecho (es)
• Swedish: flodbädd c
• Tatar: үзән (tt) (üzän), елга юлы (yelga yulı)
• Udmurt: ӧр (ör)
• Ukrainian: русло́ n (rusló), рі́чище n (ríčyšče), кори́то (uk) n (korýto)