archipelago
noun/ˌɑːkɪˈpeləɡəʊ/
/ˌɑːrkɪˈpeləɡəʊ/
(plural archipelagos, archipelagoes)
- a group of islands and the sea surrounding them
- the Indonesian archipelago
Word Originearly 16th cent.: from Italian arcipelago, from Greek arkhi- ‘chief’ + pelagos ‘sea’. The word was originally used as a proper name (the Archipelago ‘the Aegean Sea’): the general sense arose because the Aegean Sea is known for its large numbers of islands.Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
Check pronunciation:
archipelago