iceberg
/ˈaɪsbɝɡ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.35 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An impending disastrous event whose adverse effects are only beginning to show.
Example Sentences
- "The Titanic hit an iceberg and sank."
- "Clissold the excellent cook, who should have gone with the motor party, tumbled off a small iceberg and concussed himself while posing or 'ponting' as it had come to be known- Griffith Taylor, with his usual wit, had defined 'to pont' as 'to spend a deuce of a time posing in an uncomfortable position'."
- "The passengers still on board were keen to watch as Tessa's crew scrambled for their positions, and she heard jokes about icebergs and devil's triangles, and anxious childish queries answered by soothing adult tones."
- "And although the iceberg appears to be maintaining its structure for now, in recent decades large icebergs that have taken this route “soon break up, disperse and melt,” said Meijers."
- "He has little to lose: at present he will go down in history, alongside George W. Bush, as a skipper who ignored the looming fiscal iceberg."
- "Near-synonym: rabbit hole"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyH- Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyH-so-der. Proto-Germanic *īsą Proto-West Germanic *īs Old English īs Middle English is English ice ▲ Dutch ijsbergpcalq. English iceberg Partial calque of Dutch ijsberg (compound of ijs (“ice”) + berg (“mountain”)), from Middle Dutch ijsberch. First used to describe a glacier as seen at a distance from a ship then used as a term to describe the floating chunks of ice broken off from such glaciers. Cognate to German Eisberg, Danish isbjerg, Norwegian isberg and Swedish isberg. Figurative senses in reference to the fact that only one-tenth of an iceberg is usually visible above water.
Word Breakdown
- Root: ijsberch
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈaɪsbɝɡ/
- British English: /ˈaɪsbɜːɡ/
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
bergy bit
blue iceberg
iceberg basement
iceberg chart
iceberg droppings
iceberg green
iceberg lettuce
iceberg theory