Archipelago Meaning

/ˌɑːkɪˈpɛlɪɡəʊ/
C1

Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

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nounA group of islands.

nounPreceded by the, and often in the form Archipelago: the Aegean Sea.

The Japanese archipelago is struck by a terrible heat wave.
The Celebes and Sulu Seas separate the Indonesian Archipelago and the Philippines.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ is a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The country consists of a large ____ of over seven thousand islands.

The noun is borrowed from Italian arcipelago (“Aegean Sea; group of many islands”), from arci- (variant of archi- (prefix meaning ‘foremost, primary’)) + pelago (“(open) sea”): * Archi- is derived from Latin archi-, from Ancient Greek ᾰ̓ρχῐ- (ărkhĭ-, prefix denoting primary authority or importance), from ἄρχω (árkhō, “to begin; to lead, rule”) or ᾰ̓ρχός (ărkhós, “leader, ruler”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- (“to fit, put together”) or *h₂ergʰ- (“to begin; to command, rule”). * Pelago is from Latin pelagus (“sea”), from Ancient Greek πέλᾰγος (pélăgos, “sea”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat”) or a non-Indo-European language. By surface analysis, archi- (prefix meaning ‘foremost, primary’) + -pelago (suffix meaning ‘sea’). Noun sense 2.1 (“sea with many islands”) is from the fact that the Aegean Sea has many islands, and noun sense 2.2 (“group of many islands”) represents a shift of meaning from the sea to the islands in such a sea. The verb is derived from the noun. cognates * Greek αρχιπέλαγος (archipélagos)

"[M]any other iles within the Archpelago that is yͤ Gulf be twix Grese and Turkye that cometh from the Grekes see in to the grete see before Constantynople, thorow the brace of Seynt George·" — c. 1502, Richard Arnold, “The Copye of a Carete Compasyng the Cireuet of the Wolde and the Compace of Euery Yland Comprehendid ī the Same”, in [Francis Douce], editor, The Customs of London, otherwise Called Arnold’s Chronicle; […], London: […] [Harding and Wright] for F[rancis] C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington; T[homas] Payne; Wilkie and Robinson, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; Cadell and Davies; J[oseph] Mawman; and R[obert] H[arding] Evans, published 1811, →OCLC, page 143:
"[W]hen in his imagination he had ſettled his rout, through Holland and France to Sicily, vvhich he had long vviſhed to ſee, and from thence to the Archipelago, he breathed freer, and felt himſelf more reconciled to exiſtence." — 1791, Charlotte Smith, chapter II, in Celestina. […], volume IV, London: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 48:
"The long, lofty, and naked backbone of the island of Eubœa may be viewed as a continuance both of this chain and of the chain of Othrys: the line is farther prolonged by a series of islands in the Archipelago, Andros, Tênos, Mykonos, and Naxos, belonging to the group called the Cyclades of islands encircling the sacred centre of Delos." — 1846, George Grote, “General Geography and Limits of Greece”, in History of Greece, volume II, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, part II (Historical Greece), pages 282–283:
"I have not met with any account of the land birds being so tame, in any other quarter of the world, as at the Galapagos and Falkland Islands. And it may be observed that of the few archipelagoes of any size, which when discovered were uninhabited by man, these two are among the most important." — 1839, Charles Darwin, chapter XIX, in Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Ships Adventure and Beagle, between the Years 1826 and 1836, […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 477–478:
"For many years past the whale-ship has been the pioneer in ferreting out the remotest and least known parts of the earth. She has explored seas and archipelagoes which had no chart, where no [James] Cook or [George] Vancouver had ever sailed." — 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Advocate”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 120:

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CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ is a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The country consists of a large ____ of over seven thousand islands.

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