Peninsula

Florida, an example of a peninsula.

A peninsula (Latin: paeninsula from paene "almost” and insula "island") is a piece of land surrounded by water on the majority of its border while being connected to a mainland from which it extends.[1][2][3][4] The surrounding water is usually understood to be continuous, though not necessarily named as a single body of water. Peninsulas are not always named as such; one can also be a headland, cape, island promontory, bill, point, or spit.[5] A point is generally considered a tapering piece of land projecting into a body of water that is less prominent than a cape.[6] A river which courses through a very tight meander is also sometimes said to form a "peninsula" within the (almost closed) loop of water. In English, the plural versions of peninsula are peninsulas and, less commonly, peninsulae.

See also

References

  1. Word Histories and Mysteries: From Abracadabra to Zeus. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2004. p. 216. ISBN 978-0547350271. OCLC 55746553.
  2. "pen·in·su·la". American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  3. "Definition of peninsula". Cambridge Dictionaries Online. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  4. "Definition of peninsula". Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  5. "List of peninsulas". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  6. "Fourah Point / Fourah Point, Northern, Sierra Leone, Africa". travelingluck.com. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
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