Earth & SkyGreek → English
Arctic
/ˈɑːrktɪk/adjective
Belonging to the region around the North Pole, or cold enough to suggest it.
The Greek roots
ἄρκτος
árktos
bear
Literally: “of the Bear”
Follow a root:ἄρκτος2 words
The story of the word
The far north is named after a bear, and not the one on the ice. Árktos meant bear, and arktikós meant the quarter of the sky under the Great Bear, the constellation that never sets for a northern observer. Sailors steered by it long before anyone mapped the pole, so the region took the name of the stars above it.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 14th century
Same family
antarcticarcturus
In a sentence
Arctic sea ice reached its lowest recorded September extent in 2012.
The kitchen was arctic until the boiler came back on.