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, archived from the original on 30 September 2022‎:

     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 assault ship
• amphibious car
• amphibiously
• 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 Japanese: 水陸両用の (すいりくりょうようの, suirikuryōyō no) Korean: 수륙 양용의 (suryuk yang'yong-ui) 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) Serbo-Croatian: (please verify) amfibijski (sh)