English Channel
9
2.6
- proper noun
:
Canal de la Mancha
- The SS John Treutlen was torpedoed in the English Channel during the Normandy Invasion in 1944.
- English Channel coast
Indeed, the Royal Navy tried to block off the English Channel with steel Nets and mines.
- Indeed, the Royal Navy tried to block off the English Channel with steel Nets and mines.
- I'll fly down the English Channel and see how it feels, and then I'll let you know.
Examples
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When I was 19, I attempted to become the first woman ever to swim the English Channel.
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A British submarine waiting in the English Channel.
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This is the English Channel.
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In time, the sea broke through to create the English Channel.
Academic text (2007) -
The tunnel under the English Channel is still under construction.
Academic text (1991) -
Miss Kate's going to swim the English Channel one day.
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After departing St. Petersburg, the ship passed through the English Channel in early August.
Blog text (10) -
At noon, April 10th, 1912, she steamed out of Southampton into the English Channel.
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A British company, Marine Current Turbines Ltd., has installed a 300 kW plant in the English Channel off the coast of Cornwall.
Academic text (2009) -
When I was 19, I attempted to become the first woman ever to swim the English Channel.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is a straightforward noun phrase: 'English' (pertaining to England) modifies 'channel' (a narrow waterway), so a learner who knows both words can infer it denotes the waterway associated with England. This compositional naming pattern for geographic features is common cross-linguistically, making the meaning readily derivable for a B1 learner.
Etymology
English Channel comes from two simple words. A narrow sea is called a channel, and this one lies next to England, so the name came to mean 'the sea between southern England and northern France'.