barachois

/ˌbæɹəˈʃwɑ/UK/ˌbæɹəˈʃwɑː/

barachois noun: a coastal lagoon partially or totally separated from the ocean by a sand or shingle bar.

Image: Hayden Soloviev, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

barachois (plural barachois)

(Atlantic-Canada, Saint Pierre and Miquelon) A coastal lagoon partially or totally separated from the ocean by a sand or shingle bar.
- These barachois are inland lagoons connected with the main lagoon by a narrow outlet some 2 fathoms deep or more. They are filled and emptied every tide, and their floor is intersected by numerous small channels running in every direction[…]1888, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, page 457
- These private barachois are walled ponds or "fish paddocks," which, by permission, may be replenished from Government reserves. Certain parts of the coast are set apart, which are called "reserves," and in which no fishing can take place[…]1906, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, Parliamentary Papers, page 43

Other barachois are located at the mouths of Bonaventure and Nouvelle rivers.1939, Stuart Alvord Northrop, Paleontology and Stratigraphy of the Silurian Rocks of the Port Daniel-Black Cape Region, Gaspé, Geological...
Several of the government owned barachois are leased out to artisanal fishermen and young farmers cooperatives.1987 June 1, Erik C. Paul, Fisheries Development and the Food Needs of Mauritius, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 84:
These days, the barachois are increasingly recognized for their ecological value and many local groups are active in preserving, restoring and enhancing them.1999, Maurice Lamontagne Institute, The St. Lawrence Marine Environment: Knowledge and Action, 1993-1998, Maurice Lamontagne Institute Ma...
Barachois are flooded at high tide, and large areas of silty sand may be exposed at low tide; at lower levels meandering creek systems may develop.2012 December 2, O.A. Jones, Biology and Geology of Coral Reefs V4: Geology 2, Elsevier, →ISBN, page 76:

plural	barachois

From French barachois, from Basque barratxoa (“little bar”).

What does barachois mean?: Barachois means a coastal lagoon partially or totally separated from the ocean by a sand or shingle bar.
How do you use barachois in a sentence?: Other barachois are located at the mouths of Bonaventure and Nouvelle rivers.
What part of speech is barachois?: Barachois is a noun.
How do you pronounce barachois?: Barachois is pronounced /ˌbæɹəˈʃwɑː/ (UK).
What is the plural of barachois?: The plural of barachois is barachois.

Adapted from Wiktionary: barachois (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “barachois.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/barachois. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.