waterfall

English

Goðafoss, a waterfall in Iceland

Etymology

From Middle English waterfal, waterfalle, from Old English wæterġefeall (“waterfall”), equivalent to water +‎ fall. Cognate with West Frisian wetterfal (“waterfall”), Dutch waterval (“waterfall”), German Wasserfall (“waterfall”), Swedish vattenfall (“waterfall”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔːtəfɔːl/
• (US) enPR: wôʹtər-fôl, IPA^(key): /ˈwɔtɚfɔl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːl

Noun

waterfall (plural waterfalls)

1. a flow of water over the edge of a cliff.

   Synonyms: cataract, cascade

2. (figuratively) A waterfall-like outpouring of liquid, smoke, etc.

   A waterfall of mist came from the open freezer.

3. (technical, computing, slang) Waterfall model

   A very long duration project […] had taken a whole group of people through a painful waterfall development process.

4. (slang, US) The action of drinking from a vessel without touching it with the lips, considered more sanitary for a shared vessel.

   Hey man, can I take a waterfall from your bottle?

5. (colloquial, dated) A necktie.
6. (colloquial, dated) A chignon.
7. (colloquial, dated) A beard.

   I found home a dreary place after my long absence; for half the children I had known were now wearing whiskers or waterfalls... (Mark Twain, Roughing It)

Synonyms

• (flow of water over the edge a cliff): cascade, cataract, sault

Derived terms

Derived terms

• coastal waterfall
• waterfall bong
• waterfall effect

• waterfall illusion
• waterfall model
• waterfall stomach

Translations

flow of water over the edge of a cliff

• Adyghe: псыкъефэх (psəqefăx)
• Afrikaans: waterval (af)
• Ainu: ソ (so)
• Albanian: ujëvarë (sq) f, skuranë
• Amharic: ፏፏቴ (fʷafʷate)
• Apache:

  Western Apache: túnálį́į́’

• Arabic: شَلَّال‎ m (šallāl)

  Egyptian Arabic: شلّال‎ m (šallāl)

  Hijazi Arabic: شَلَّال‎ m (šallāl)

• Aragonese: salto d'augua m
• Armenian: ջրվեժ (hy) (ǰrvež)
• Asi: busáy
• Asturian: catarata (ast) f
• Azerbaijani: şəlalə (az)
• Bashkir: шарлауыҡ (šarlawïq)
• Basque: ur-jauzi
• Belarusian: вадаспа́д m (vadaspád)
• Bengali: জলপ্রপাত (jôlôprôpat)
• Bikol Central: busay (bcl)
• Brunei Bisaya: wasai
• Brunei Malay: wasai, aing terajun
• Bulgarian: водопа́д m (vodopád)
• Burmese: ရေတံခွန် (my) (retamhkwan)
• Catalan: cascada (ca) f
• Cebuano: busay
• Central Dusun: wasai
• Cherokee: ᎠᎹᏍᎧᎦᎯ (amaskagahi)
• Chichewa: dziwe
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 瀑布 (buk⁶ bou³)

  Hakka: 瀑布 (phau-pu)

  Mandarin: 瀑布 (zh) (pùbù)

  Min Dong: 瀑布 (bŭk-buó)

  Min Nan: 瀑布 (zh-min-nan) (pho̍k-pò͘)

• Chinook Jargon: tumwata
• Chuvash: шарлак (šarlak)
• Coastal Kadazan: vasai
• Czech: vodopád (cs) m
• Danish: vandfald (da) n
• Dupaningan Agta: tapaw
• Dutch: waterval (nl) f
• Eastern Bontoc: oto
• Esperanto: akvofalo (eo), kaskado
• Estonian: kosk, juga
• Faroese: fossur (fo) m
• Fijian: savu (fj)
• Finnish: vesiputous (fi)
• French: cascade (fr) f, chute d'eau (fr) f
• Galician: fervenza f cadoiro m cachoeira f, freixa, seimeira (gl) f, cenza f
• Georgian: ჩანჩქერი (čančkeri)
• German: Wasserfall (de) m (common), Katarakt (de) m
• Greek: καταρράκτης (el) m (katarráktis)

  Ancient: καταρράκτης m (katarrháktēs)

• Guaraní: ytu, chororo
• Gujarati: ધોધ m (dhodh)
• Haitian Creole: kaskad
• Hawaiian: wailele
• Hebrew: מַפַּל מַיִם‎ (he) m (mapál máyim)
• Hindi: जलप्रपात (hi) m (jalaprapāt), आबशार (ābśār), झरना (hi) m (jharnā)
• Hungarian: vízesés (hu)
• Icelandic: foss (is) m
• Ido: aquofalo (io)
• Igbo: nsụda mmiri
• Ilocano: dissuor
• Indonesian: air terjun (id)
• Inuktitut: ᖁᖅᓗᕐᓂᖅ (quqlurniq)
• Iranun: aig a tibpu'
• Irish: eas (ga) m
• Italian: cascata (it) f
• Japanese: 滝 (ja) (たき, taki), 瀑布 (ja) (ばくふ, bakufu)
• Javanese: ꦒꦿꦺꦴꦗꦺꦴꦒꦤ꧀ (jv) (grojogan)
• Kannada: ಜಲಪಾತ (kn) (jalapāta), ಧಬಧಬೆ (kn) (dhabadhabe), ಅಬ್ಬಿ (kn) (abbi), ಜೋಗು (kn) (jōgu), ನೀರಿನ ಬೀಳು (kn) (nīrina bīḷu)
• Kapampangan: tulari
• Karachay-Balkar: чучхур (çuçxur)
• Kazakh: құлама (qulama), сарқырама (kk) (sarqırama)
• Khmer: ទឹកធ្លាក់ (tɨk thlĕək)
• Kimaragang: vasoi
• Korean: 폭포 (ko) (pokpo) (瀑布 (ko))
• Kumyk: шаршар (şarşar)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: gilale (ku)

• Kyrgyz: шаркыратма (ky) (şarkıratma), шаркырама (ky) (şarkırama)
• Lao: ນ້ຳຕົກຕາດ (nam tok tāt), ນ້ຳຕົກ (nam tok), ຕົກຕາດ (tok tāt), ນ້ຳຕາດ (nam tāt), ນ້ຳໂຕນຕາດ (nam tōn tāt), ນ້ຳໂຕນຜາ (nam tōn phā), ໂຕນຕາດ (tōn tāt)

• Latin: cataracta
• Latvian: ūdenskritums m
• Lithuanian: krioklys m
• Lotud: wasai
• Lubuagan Kalinga: teub
• Luxembourgish: Waasserfall m
• Lü: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: во́допад m (vódopad)
• Malagasy: riana (mg), rian-drano (mg)
• Malay: air terjun, air memancur
• Malayalam: വെള്ളച്ചാട്ടം (veḷḷaccāṭṭaṃ)
• Maltese: kaskata f
• Manchu: ᡨᡠᡵᠠᡴᡡ (turakū)
• Manx: eas m
• Maori: tāheke, hīrere, hohō
• Mapudungun: trayken
• Marathi: धबधबा m (dhabadhbā)
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: вӱдшуҥгалтыш (vüdšuṅgaltyš)

• Mon: ဍာ်စၚ်
• Mongolian: хүрхрээ (mn) (hürhree)
• Navajo: hadahiilį́
• Nepali: झरना (ne) (jharanā)
• Newar: झ्वाला (jhwālā)
• Northern Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: foss (no) m, fossefall n, vannfall n

  Nynorsk: foss (nn) m, fossefall n, vassfall n

• Occitan: cascada (oc) f, chorrèra (oc) f
• Old English: wæterġefeall n
• Old Norse: fors
• Oromo: finchaa (om)
• Persian: آبشار‎ (fa) (âbšâr)
• Pitjantjatjara: waḻa
• Plautdietsch: Wotafaul
• Polish: wodospad (pl) m
• Portuguese: cachoeira (pt) f, queda-d'água (pt) f, cascata (pt) f, salto (pt) m, catarata (pt)
• Punjabi: ਝਰਨਾ m (jharnā)
• Quechua: phaqcha, pagca, pagza
• Romanian: cascadă (ro) f
• Rungus: vosoi
• Russian: водопа́д (ru) m (vodopád)
• Sanskrit: जलपात m (jalapāta), जलप्रपात (sa) m (jalaprapāta)
• Scottish Gaelic: linne f, eas (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: водопад m, слап m, бук m

  Roman: vȍdopād (sh) m, slȃp (sh) m, bȗk (sh) m

• Shan: please add this translation if you can
• Shona: mapopoma
• Sinhalese: දිය ඇල්ල (diya ælla)
• Skolt Sami: kuõškk
• Slovak: vodopád m
• Slovene: slap (sl) m
• Somali: biyo-dhac
• Southern Kalinga: pakungupung, poy-asan
• Spanish: catarata (es) f, cascada (es) f, caída de agua f
• Sundanese: curug (su)
• Swahili: maanguko 5 or 6
• Swedish: vattenfall (sv) n
• Tagal Murut: bosoi
• Tagalog: talon
• Tajik: обшор (obšor), шаршара (šaršara), шалола (šalola)
• Tambunan Dusun: wasai
• Tamil: நீர்வீழ்ச்சி (ta) (nīrvīḻcci)
• Tatar: шарлавык (tt) (şarlawıq)
• Telugu: జలపాతము (te) (jalapātamu)
• Thai: น้ำตก (th) (náam-dtòk)
• Tibetan: བབས་ཆུ (babs chu)
• Timugon Murut: bosoi
• Turkish: şelale (tr), çağlayan (tr)
• Turkmen: şaglawuk
• Ukrainian: водоспа́д (uk) m (vodospád)
• Urdu: آبشار‎ (ur) (ābśār)
• Uyghur: شارقىراتما‎ (sharqiratma)
• Uzbek: sharshara (uz), shalola (uz)
• Vietnamese: thác nước (vi), thác (vi)
• Voro: viisadang
• Waray-Waray: tubighóg
• Welsh: rhaeadr f, pistyll m, sgwd m
• West Coast Bajau: boe' pansur
• West Frisian: wetterfal c
• Westrobothnian: sput m, fell n
• White Hmong: please add this translation if you can
• Xhosa: ingxangxasi 9 or 10
• Yakut: күрүлгэн (kürülgen)
• Yiddish: וואַסערפֿאַל‎ (vaserfal)
• Yoruba: isosileomi
• Zhuang: raemxgienghdat
• Zulu: impophoma 9/10

waterfall-like outpouring

• Arabic: شَلَّال‎ m (šallāl)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 瀑布 (zh) (pùbù)

• Czech: vodopád (cs) m
• Dutch: waterval (nl) f
• Finnish: hyöky
• German: Wasserfall (de) m, Kaskade (de) f
• Hebrew: מפל‎ (he) m (mapál)
• Italian: cascata (it) f
• Japanese: 滝 (ja) (たき, taki)
• Kannada: ಅಬ್ಬಿ (kn) (abbi)
• Macedonian: во́допад m (vódopad)

• Norwegian: foss (no) m
• Persian: آبشار‎ (fa) (âbšâr), فوران‎ (fa) (favarân)
• Polish: wodospad (pl) m
• Portuguese: cascata (pt) f
• Romanian: cascadă (ro) f
• Russian: водопа́д (ru) m (vodopád), каска́д (ru) m (kaskád)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: водопад m

  Roman: vȍdopād (sh) m

• Spanish: cascada (es) f
• Swedish: vattenfall (sv) n, fors (sv) c
• Welsh: rhaeadr, pistyll, sgwd

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} akvofalo (eo)
• Ido: ^{(please verify)} kaskado (io), ^{(please verify)} aquofalo (io)
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} air terjun (id)
• Malayalam: ^{(please verify)} വെള്ളച്ചാട്ടം (veḷḷaccāṭṭaṃ)

• Maltese: ^{(please verify)} nixxiegħa f
• Tamil: ^{(please verify)} நீர்வீழ்ச்சி (ta) (nīrvīḻcci)
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} జలపాతం (te) (jalapātaṃ)

Verb

waterfall (third-person singular simple present waterfalls, present participle waterfalling, simple past and past participle waterfalled)

1. (intransitive) To fall like a waterfall.
   • 1994, Nora Roberts, Private Scandals, page 54:

     Rain ran off the bill of his fielder's cap and waterfalled in front of his face.

   • 1999, Jane Yolen; Bruce Coville, Armageddon Summer, page 79:

     Zondra, whose dirty-blond hair waterfalled above her head from a colorful tie, gave a snorting, horsey kind of laugh.

   • 2008, John Gardner, No Human Enemy, page 156:

     they turned into the drive of The Manor with its red-brick front and the wonderful cloak of Virginia creeper waterfalling down between the windows.

2. (transitive) To drink (something) from a container by pouring it from a height so as not to touch one's lips to the rim.

Derived terms

• waterfalled
• waterfalling

See also

• cloudfall
• icefall
• smokefall