monsoon English · revision 1663

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /mɒnˈsuːn/ ''(UK)''; /mɑnˈsuːn/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is borrowed from obsolete [[nl|monssoen]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) [[der|pt|monção]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) [[der|ar|موسم|tr=mawsim|t=season, appropriate time]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) from ''wasama'' “he marked”.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A seasonal wind of southern Asia and the Indian Ocean, blowing from the southwest in summer and the northeast in winter (1584).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The Arabic word, picked up by Portuguese sailors, was used for anything that came round every year, and was extended to the season when the wind was right for voyages to the East Indies.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995) Because the summer monsoon of India is the stronger and brings heavy rain, the word came to mean the rainy season and its rainfall (1747).^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) From 1691 it was also applied to any wind that changes direction with the seasons.^(OED 1989)^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1584 – the seasonal wind of the Indian Ocean.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1691 – any seasonally reversing wind.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1747 – the rainy season; its rainfall.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[wind]] system that reverses direction with the seasons, especially that of the [[Indian Ocean]] and southern Asia.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The summer southwest wind that brings heavy rain to southern Asia, or the rainy season it brings.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The rain that comes with this wind.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[monsoonal]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[typhoon]]

+ * [[trade wind]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}