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Glite Dictionary
🔀 Unpredictable 🪨 A large boulder
erratic

erratic

8.2
A large rock left by a glacier far from where it came
  • noun
  • /ɪˈrætɪk/
  • Specialized
translation icon : bloque errático
  • The hiking trail led us to an impressive erratic, a boulder left behind from the last Ice Age.

Examples

  • We found a large erratic in the middle of the field, which had been moved there by the glacier thousands of years ago.

  • Its disappearance behind the erratic was followed by a tinkling crash.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • During the geology trip, the students studied an erratic that had traveled far from its source rock.

Synonyms

glacial boulder
vserratic
  • Specialized
7.1

A large rock moved by a glacier far from where it came

is the single word technical term for the same stone moved by ice

Surface Forms

erratic singular
erratics plural

Etymology

The word erratic for a rock comes from the Latin errare, which means 'to wander'. Glaciers moved big rocks far from where they started, so these boulders seem to have 'wandered' and are called erratics.