Word.ws English Dictionary

polynyas

polynyas is the plural of polynya.

Meaning of polynya

Noun

polynya (plural polynyas or (rare) polynyi)

  1. A naturally formed transient area of open water surrounded by sea ice, especially in polar or subpolar seas.
    • We immediately ascended a hill, and saw that the supposed land was nothing but hummocks of ice, piled up beyond a large Polynia, or space of open water, which extended from east to west, as far as the eye could reach.1844, Ferdinand von Wrangell, chapter V, in Edward Sabine, editor, Narrative of an Expedition to the Polar Sea […], 2nd edition, London: James Madden and Co., […], →OCLC, pages 102–103
    Synonyms:
    glade

Questions about polynyas

What is polynyas the plural of?
Polynyas is the plural of polynya.

Words near polynyas in the dictionary

  1. polynucleotide
  2. polynucleotides
  3. polynucleotidic
  4. polynucleotidyl
  5. polynya
  6. polynyas
  7. polynyi
  8. polynym
  9. polynymous
  10. polynymously
  11. polynyms

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: polynyas (page history and authors); polynya (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.

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