Word.ws English Dictionary

portulan

portulan is the alternative form of portolan.

Meaning of portolan

Noun

portolan (plural portolans)

  1. (historical) A chart of European navigable waters based on descriptions of coasts.
    • Portolans are as old as the European mariner's magnetic compass, and for about two centuries the two depended on each other for the growth and safe passage of Mediterranean trade.2012, Simon Garfield, On the Map, Profile Books, page 110

Forms of portulan

pluralportulans

Questions about portulan

What is portulan the alternative form of?
Portulan is the alternative form of portolan.

Words near portulan in the dictionary

  1. Portuguezes
  2. portulaca
  3. portulacaceous
  4. portulacas
  5. portulaceous
  6. portulan
  7. portulans
  8. portulent
  9. Portumna
  10. Portunalia
  11. Portunhol

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: portulan (page history and authors); portolan (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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Cite this entry: “portulan.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/portulan. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.