biosphere

See also: biosphère

English

Etymology

From bio- +‎ -sphere, from German Biosphäre, coined by Austrian geologist Eduard Suess in 1875.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaɪəʊˌsfɪə(ɹ)/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Noun

biosphere (plural biospheres)

1. The part of the Earth and its atmosphere capable of supporting life.
2. The totality of living organisms and their environment.
   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Patavig:

     Patavig is the second of the Macedon system's giant terrestrial planets, and by far the more interesting. Most of the surface is covered by a vast sea of liquid ammonia, in which a unique aquatic ammonia-based biosphere has developed. While the frozen continents are largely bereft of life, a rich bounty of complex organisms — many larger than a human — flourish in the chilly, toxic seas.

Derived terms

• abiosphere
• biospherian

 

Related terms

• biospheric / biospherical

Translations

part of Earth capable of supporting life

• Albanian: biosferë (sq) f
• Armenian: կենսոլորտ (hy) (kensolort)
• Catalan: biosfera f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 生物圈 (zh) (shēngwùquān)

• Czech: biosféra (cs) f
• Dutch: biosfeer (nl) m or f
• Finnish: biosfääri (fi), elonkehä
• French: biosphère (fr) f
• Georgian: ბიოსფერო (biospero)
• German: Biosphäre (de) f
• Greek: βιόσφαιρα (el) f (viósfaira)
• Hebrew: ביוספרה (he) f (biosféra)
• Hindi: जीवमंडल (jīvmaṇḍal)
• Hungarian: bioszféra (hu)
• Italian: biosfera (it) f
• Japanese: 生物圏 (せいぶつけん, seibutsuken)
• Kazakh: биосфера (biosfera)
• Korean: 생물권(生物圏) (ko) (saengmulgwon)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ژینگۆ (jîngo)

• Latin: biosphaera f
• Malayalam: ജൈവമണ്ഡലം (jaivamaṇḍalaṁ)
• Maori: ao rauropi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: biosfære m

  Nynorsk: biosfære m

• Occitan: biosfèra f
• Persian: زیست‌کره (zist-kore), زیست‌سپهر (zist-sepehr)
• Polish: biosfera (pl) f
• Portuguese: biosfera (pt) f
• Russian: биосфе́ра (ru) f (biosféra)
• Slovene: biosfera f
• Spanish: biosfera (es) f
• Swedish: biosfär (sv) c
• Tagalog: haybulog
• Vietnamese: sinh quyển (vi) (生圈)

totality of living organisms

• Finnish: biosfääri (fi)
• Greek: βιόσφαιρα (el) f (viósfaira)

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

• Irish: ^{(please verify)} bithsféar m