loess
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from German Löss (“yellowish-gray soil”), from Alemannic German lösch (“loose”). Cognate with German los and English lease.
Pronunciation edit
- (UK) IPA(key): /lɜːs/, /ˈləʊɪs/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈloʊ.əs/, /lɛs/, /lʌs/
- Rhymes: -ɜːs, -əʊɪs, -oʊəs, -ʌs
Noun edit
loess (countable and uncountable, plural loesses)
- (geology) Any sediment, dominated by silt, of eolian (wind-blown) origin
- 1987, Amy Shui, Stuart Thompson, “China and its people”, in Chinese Food and Drink[1], Wayland Publishers, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 4, column 2:
- The Yellow River got its name from the massive amount of fertile loess (yellow earth) which it has deposited in the wheat-growing North China Plain.
- 2022, Thomas Halliday, Otherworlds, Penguin, published 2023, page 3:
- They blast their sand westwards across the steppe, coating the foothills of the Brooks Range in an icing-sugar dust of the loose, windblown sand-silt mixture known as loess.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
sediment of eolian origin
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Further reading edit
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “loess”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Anagrams edit
Portuguese edit
Alternative forms edit
Pronunciation edit
- Hyphenation: loess
Noun edit
loess m (uncountable)
Romanian edit
Etymology edit
Noun edit
loess n (plural loessuri)
Declension edit
Declension of loess
singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite articulation | definite articulation | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | |
nominative/accusative | (un) loess | loessul | (niște) loessuri | loessurile |
genitive/dative | (unui) loess | loessului | (unor) loessuri | loessurilor |
vocative | loessule | loessurilor |