the seven enormous landmasses that make up Earth's surface, like Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Australia, and Antarctica.
From Latin continens (continuous land) derived from continere 'to hold together.' The word implies unbroken land that 'contains' itself, distinguishing it from islands.
We say there are 7 continents, but geologists debate this constantly—some countries teach 5 or 6 depending on how you count them, and the real answer depends on arbitrary definitions of where one landmass ends.
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