Plural of berg; large floating chunks of ice that have broken off from glaciers or ice sheets, commonly seen in polar oceans.
Short for 'iceberg,' which comes from Dutch 'ijsberg' (ice mountain). The word was adopted into English in the 1600s as polar exploration increased and icebergs became a well-known hazard to ships.
Icebergs are so deceptively dangerous because only about 10% of their mass shows above water—the Titanic tragically learned this lesson in 1912, making bergs one of the most famous killers in maritime history.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.