archipelago

From Italian Arcipelago (“the Chief Sea, the Aegean Sea”), from Ancient Greek ἀρχι- (arkhi-, “leading”) +‎ πέλαγος (pélagos, “sea”). The Aegean (the Arcipelago) is a sea with many islands; by extension, the term an Arcipelago at first referred to any sea with many islands, then to the islands themselves.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɑːkɪˈpɛləɡəʊ/
• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /ɑɹ.kɪ.pɛlˈɑ.ɡəʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌɑɹkəˈpɛləˌɡoʊ/

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• Hyphenation: ar‧chi‧pe‧la‧go

archipelago (plural archipelagos or archipelagoes)

1. (collective) A group of islands.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick:

     For many years past the whaleship 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 Cook or Vancouver had ever sailed.

2. (by extension) Something scattered around like an archipelago.

   The Gulag Archipelago

• archipelagic

archipelago m (plural archipelagos)

1. Obsolete spelling of arquipélago (used in Portugal until September 1911 and died out in Brazil during the 1920s).