Standard Lemma guide

amphibian

adj · noun · 10 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • ăm'fĭb"ĭ-ən
  • /æmˈfɪbɪən/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: AE0 M F IH1 B IY0 AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of or relating to the class Amphibia.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Capable of operating on both land and water; amphibious.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Having two natures.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

An animal of the Amphibia; any vertebrate that does not have amniotic eggs, typically living both on land and in water.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: amphibium

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: batrachomorph

5

noun

Meaning 5

A vehicle which can operate on both land and water.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

A person with two distinct characters, qualities or identities.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncommon

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

adjective

Meaning 7

relating to or characteristic of animals of the class Amphibia

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: amphibious

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

cold-blooded vertebrate typically living on land but breeding in water; aquatic larvae undergo metamorphosis into adult form

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: vertebrate, craniate

Narrower terms: Hynerpeton bassetti, Ichyostega, urodele, caudate, salamander, frog, toad, toad frog, anuran, batrachian, salientian, caecilian, blindworm, labyrinthodont

9

noun

Meaning 9

an airplane designed to take off and land on water

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: amphibious aircraft

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: airplane, aeroplane, plane

10

noun

Meaning 10

a flat-bottomed motor vehicle that can travel on land or water

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: amphibious vehicle

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: motor vehicle, automotive vehicle

Narrower terms: swamp buggy, marsh buggy

History

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin amphibius [from Ancient Greek ἀμφίβιος (amphíbios), from ἀμφίς (amphís, “of both kinds”) + βίος (bíos, “life”)] + -an.

Across languages

Translations

125 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: بَرْمَائِيّ (barmāʔiyy) — of or relating to the class Amphibia
  • Asturian: anfibiu — of or relating to the class Amphibia
  • Dutch: amfibisch — of or relating to the class Amphibia
  • Esperanto: amfibia — of or relating to the class Amphibia
  • German: amphibisch — of or relating to the class Amphibia
  • German: Amphibien- — of or relating to the class Amphibia
  • Hindi: उभयचर (ubhaycar) — of or relating to the class Amphibia
  • Hungarian: kétéltű — of or relating to the class Amphibia
  • Irish: amfaibiach — of or relating to the class Amphibia
  • Kashmiri: جل تھلیہٕ (jl thlyụ) — of or relating to the class Amphibia
  • Kazakh: қосмекенді (qosmekendı) — of or relating to the class Amphibia
  • Northern Kurdish: bejavî — of or relating to the class Amphibia
  • Polish: płazi — of or relating to the class Amphibia
  • Polish: amfibijny — of or relating to the class Amphibia
  • Volapük: mafibik — of or relating to the class Amphibia
  • Volapük: fibafik — of or relating to the class Amphibia
  • Welsh: amffibiaidd — of or relating to the class Amphibia
  • Albanian: amfib — vertebrate
  • Arabic: بَرْمَائِيّ (barmāʔiyy) — vertebrate
  • Arabic: قَازِب (qāzib) — vertebrate
  • Armenian: երկկենցաղ (erkkencʻaġ) — vertebrate
  • Asturian: anfibiu — vertebrate
  • Azerbaijani: amfibiya — vertebrate
  • Belarusian: земнаво́днае (zjemnavódnaje) — vertebrate
  • Belarusian: амфі́бія (amfíbija) — vertebrate
  • Bulgarian: земново́дно (zemnovódno) — vertebrate
  • Bulgarian: амфи́бия (amfíbija) — vertebrate
  • Catalan: amfibi — vertebrate
  • Chinese Mandarin: 兩棲動物 /两栖动物 (liǎngqīdòngwù) — vertebrate
  • Czech: obojživelník — vertebrate
  • Danish: amfibium — vertebrate
  • Dutch: amfibie — vertebrate
  • Esperanto: amfibio — vertebrate
  • Estonian: kahepaikne — vertebrate
  • Finnish: sammakkoeläin — vertebrate
  • French: amphibien — vertebrate
  • French: batracien — vertebrate
  • West-Frisian: amfiby — vertebrate
  • Galician: anfibio — vertebrate
  • Georgian: ამფიბია (ampibia) — vertebrate
  • German: Amphibie — vertebrate
  • German: Amphibium — vertebrate
  • German: Lurch — vertebrate
  • Greek: αμφίβιο (amfívio) — vertebrate
  • Ancient Greek: ἀμφίβιον (amphíbion) — vertebrate
  • Hawaiian: pepeʻekua — vertebrate
  • Hebrew: דּוּ־חַי (du-khay) — vertebrate
  • Hindi: उभयचर (ubhaycar) — vertebrate
  • Hungarian: kétéltű — vertebrate
  • Icelandic: froskdýr — vertebrate
  • Ido: amfibio — vertebrate
  • Indonesian: amfibi — vertebrate
  • Irish: amfaibiach — vertebrate
  • Irish: débheathach — vertebrate
  • Italian: anfibio — vertebrate
  • Japanese: 両生 (ryōsei) — vertebrate
  • Japanese: 両生類 (ryōseirui) — vertebrate
  • Kannada: ಉಭಯಚರ (ubhayacara) — vertebrate
  • Kazakh: қосмекенді (qosmekendı) — vertebrate
  • Khmer: ថលជលិកសត្វ (thaʼlaʼcĕəʼlɨk sat) — vertebrate
  • Khmer: មណ្ឌុកសត្វ (mɔndukaʼ sat) — vertebrate
  • Korean: 양서류 (yangseoryu) — vertebrate
  • Northern Kurdish: bejavî — vertebrate
  • Kyrgyz: амфибия (amfibiya) — vertebrate
  • Latin: amphibium — vertebrate
  • Latvian: abinieks — vertebrate
  • Latvian: amfībija — vertebrate
  • Lithuanian: varliagyvis — vertebrate
  • Lithuanian: amfibija — vertebrate
  • Macedonian: водо́земец (vodózemec) — vertebrate
  • Macedonian: амфибија (amfibija) — vertebrate
  • Malay: binatang dualam — vertebrate
  • Malay: binatang amfibia — vertebrate
  • Malay: haiwan dualam — vertebrate
  • Malay: haiwan amfibia — vertebrate
  • Malayalam: ഉഭയജീവി (ubhayajīvi) — vertebrate
  • Māori: ikawhenua — vertebrate
  • Māori: ikaoneone — vertebrate
  • Navajo: biyáázh tsʼǫʼasánígíí — vertebrate
  • Norwegian Bokmål: amfibium — vertebrate
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: amfibium — vertebrate
  • Persian: دوزیست (duzist) — vertebrate
  • Polish: płaz — vertebrate
  • Polish: amfibia — vertebrate
  • Portuguese: anfíbio — vertebrate
  • Romanian: amfibian — vertebrate
  • Russian: земново́дное (zemnovódnoje) — vertebrate
  • Russian: амфи́бия (amfíbija) — vertebrate
  • Sanskrit: उभयचर (ubhayacara) — vertebrate
  • Scottish Gaelic: muir-thìreach — vertebrate
  • Serbo-Croatian: водоземац — vertebrate
  • Serbo-Croatian: амфибија — vertebrate
  • Serbo-Croatian: vodozemac — vertebrate
  • Serbo-Croatian: amfibija — vertebrate
  • Slovak: obojživelník — vertebrate
  • Slovene: dvoživka — vertebrate
  • Spanish: anfibio — vertebrate
  • Swedish: amfibie — vertebrate
  • Tagalog: ampibyo — vertebrate
  • Tajik: обхоки (obxok-i) — vertebrate
  • Tajik: дузист (duzist) — vertebrate
  • Telugu: ఉభయచరము (ubhayacaramu) — vertebrate
  • Thai: สัตว์ครึ่งบกครึ่งน้ํา (sàt-krʉ̂ng-bòk-krʉ̂ng-náam) — vertebrate
  • Thai: สัตว์สะเทินน้ําสะเทินบก (sàt-sà-təən-náam-sà-təən-bòk) — vertebrate
  • Turkish: iki yaşamlı — vertebrate
  • Turkish: amfibi — vertebrate
  • Ukrainian: земново́дне (zemnovódne) — vertebrate
  • Ukrainian: амфі́бія (amfíbija) — vertebrate
  • Uzbek: amfibiya — vertebrate
  • Vietnamese: lưỡng cư — vertebrate
  • Volapük: mafib — vertebrate
  • Volapük: fibaf — vertebrate
  • Welsh: amffibiad — vertebrate
  • Zazaki: amfibi — vertebrate
  • Zazaki: duzısti — vertebrate
  • Dutch: amfibievoertuig — vehicle
  • Finnish: amfibi — vehicle
  • Finnish: amfibioajoneuvo — vehicle
  • German: Amphibienfahrzeug — vehicle
  • Hungarian: kétéltű jármű — vehicle
  • Polish: amfibia — vehicle
  • Russian: амфи́бия (amfíbija) — vehicle
  • Turkish: amfibi — vehicle
  • Turkish: yüzergezer — vehicle
  • Zazaki: amfibik — vehicle
Real reading context

amphibian in complete knowledge articles