atoll

Pronunciation: /ˈætɒl/

The English word “atoll” has 1 meaning listed here.

noun

A type of island consisting of a ribbon reef that nearly or entirely surrounds a lagoon and supports, in most cases, one to many islets on the reef platform.

Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese atol, from Dhivehi އަތޮޅު (atoḷu), possibly from Prakrit *𑀲𑀁𑀢𑀻𑀞 (*saṃtīṭha), from Sanskrit सम्- (sam-) + तीर्थ (tīrtha) “level ford”. The traditional etymology from Persian آبتل (âb-tal, “water-hillock”) is unlikely.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.