Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

175 results found

Hebrew language

(Encyclopedia)Hebrew language, member of the Canaanite group of the West Semitic subdivision of the Semitic subfamily of the Afroasiatic family of languages (see Afroasiatic languages). Hebrew was the language of t...

Southeast Asian languages

(Encyclopedia)Southeast Asian languages, family of languages, sometimes also called Austroasiatic, spoken in SE Asia by about 80 million people. According to one school of thought, it has three subfamilies: the Mon...

Romance languages

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Romance languages, group of languages belonging to the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Italic languages). Also called Romanic, they are spoken by about 670 millio...

international language

(Encyclopedia)international language, sometimes called universal language, a language intended to be used by people of different linguistic backgrounds to facilitate communication among them and to reduce the misun...

aardvark

(Encyclopedia)aardvark ärdˈvärk [key] [Du.,=ground pig], nocturnal mammal of the genus Orycteropus, sole representative of the order Tubulidentata. There are two species, one in central Africa and the other in S...

myasthenia gravis

(Encyclopedia)myasthenia gravis mīəsthēˈnēə gräˈvĭs [key], chronic disorder of the muscles characterized by weakness and a tendency to tire easily. It is caused by an autoimmune attack on the acetylcholine...

Quechua

(Encyclopedia)Quechua, Kechua kēchˈwä [key], linguistic family belonging to the Andean branch of the Andean-Equatorial stock of Native American languages (mainly in South America). Encompassing far more native ...

Yellowstone

(Encyclopedia)Yellowstone, river, 671 mi (1,080 km) long, rising in NW Wyo., and flowing NE through Mont. to enter the Missouri River near the N.Dak. line; it drains c.70,400 sq mi (182,340 sq km). The Yellowstone ...

frogmouth

(Encyclopedia)frogmouth, common name for small, owllike birds of the family Podargidae, ranging in size from 9 to 21 in. (22.5–52.5 cm). Their soft plumage is a mottled gray-brown in color with little distinction...

Gaspé Peninsula

(Encyclopedia)Gaspé Peninsula or Gaspésie gäspāzēˈ [key], tongue of land, E Que., Canada, between the estuary of the St. Lawrence River on the north and Chaleur Bay on the south, and extending eastward into t...