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Glite Dictionary
🐸 A land-water animal 🔬 Relating to amphibians 🚙 A land-water vehicle ✈️ A land-water plane
amphibian

amphibian

8.5
An airplane that can take off from and land on both water and land
  • noun
  • /æmˈfɪbiən/
translation icon : avión anfibio
  • His company specializes in manufacturing amphibians that are used for both maritime and terrestrial missions.

Examples

  • For vacation, we rented an amphibian that can take off from the lake and land at the nearby airport.

  • Look, here's a photo of an amphibian airplane.

    Commando (1985)

  • Among them, an all-metal amphibian plane- in which he set a world speed record that still stands- the first low-wing all-metal basic training plane... and the first all-metal single-seater fighter plane... of cantilever construction... adopted by the United States Army.

    Victory Through Air Power (1943)

  • The pilot successfully maneuvered the amphibian to land on the water after completing a flight over the coastline.

Synonyms

amphibious aircraft
vsamphibian
  • Specialized
6.6

A plane that can take off and land on water and land

is the one-word technical form used for the same aircraft

Surface Forms

amphibian singular
amphibians plural

Morphology

amphibian = amphibious (semi-transparent) = amphib + an

The aircraft sense is an extension of 'amphibious' applied to planes; morphologically regular but semantically specialized.

Etymology

Amphibian comes from Greek parts amphi- meaning 'both' and bio meaning 'life', and the name was also given to planes that work in two places. So an amphibian aircraft can take off and land 'both' on water and on land.