dune

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points: 5
Words With Friends: 7
Letters: 4

Pronunciation

/djuːn/

See all 4 pronunciations

/djuːn/ · /d͡ʒuːn/ · /dun/ · /dɪu̯n/

Definition of dune

1 sense · 1 part of speech · etymology included

noun

A ridge or hill of sand piled up by currents of wind or water.

“Heavy line segments (lengthened for clarity) indicate locations of deep-sea dunes.”
“In the early 2000s, space probes [confirmed Mars as] having dunes […] Their shapes are identical to their Saharan cousins', but they are ten times bigger. In contrast, underwater dunes are a hundred times smaller than their counterparts on solid ground. This universality of dunes is a blessing for physicists: their comparative study confirmed the models that describe the formation of dunes on Earth.”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

Partly from a dialectal form of down; and partly from French dune (from Old French dune), or from Middle Dutch dūne (modern Dutch duin), or from Middle Low German dûne;…

See full etymology

Partly from a dialectal form of down; and partly from French dune (from Old French dune), or from Middle Dutch dūne (modern Dutch duin), or from Middle Low German dûne; all ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *dūn, *dūnā, probably from Proto-Celtic *dūnom (“stronghold, rampart”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰuHnom (“enclosure”), from *dʰewh₂- (“to finish, come full circle”). Doublet of down (which see).