Terraqueous
adj ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Chiefly in terraqueous globe (that is, the Earth): consisting of both land and water. archaic, formal, not-comparable
"The Terraqueous Globe comprehending Sea and Land, Rivers and Lakes, ſtands divided by modern Geographers into tvvo Semi-Orbs, viz. the Old, and Nevv VVorld."
- 2 Relating to, or taking place on, both land and water. archaic, formal, not-comparable
"Thus the vicissitudes of the land and ocean, portrayed in the tertiary formations, harmonise perfectly with other terraqueous phenomena of the same geological period."
- 3 Of a plant: living in both land and water; amphibious. archaic, formal, not-comparable
"Among a large number of terraqueous plants, cellulose and lignin are dominant in nature."
Example
More examples"The Terraqueous Globe comprehending Sea and Land, Rivers and Lakes, ſtands divided by modern Geographers into tvvo Semi-Orbs, viz. the Old, and Nevv VVorld."
Etymology
PIE word *h₂ékʷeh₂ Learned borrowing from Late Latin terraqueus + English -ous (suffix denoting the presence of a quality in any degree, usually an abundance). Terraqueus is derived from Latin terra (“dry land; earth, soil”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ters- (“dry”)) + Late Latin aqueus (“aqueous; watery”) (from Latin aqua (“water”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ékʷeh₂ (“water”)) + -eus (suffix forming adjectives from nouns denoting the sources of attributes)).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.