Standard Lemma guide

riverbed

noun · 2 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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈɹɪv.əˌbɛd/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: rĭvʹər-bĕd'
  • General-American: /ˈɹɪv.ɚˌbɛd/
  • [ˈɹɪv.ɚˌbeː] African-American Vernacular, some speakers
  • Australian: /ˈɹɪv.əˌbed/
  • CMU ARPABET: R IH1 V ER0 B EH2 D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The path where a river runs, or where a river once ran; the bottom earthen part of a river, not including the riverbanks.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: geography, hydrology, natural-sciences

Examples

  • Near-synonyms: streambed, creekbed

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: river bottom, streambed, creekbed

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: bed, bottom, site, place, location

2

noun

Meaning 2

a channel occupied (or formerly occupied) by a river

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: river bottom

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: bed, bottom

History

Etymology

From river + bed. Compare Dutch rivierbedding (“riverbed”), German Flussbett (“riverbed”), Swedish flodbädd (“riverbed”).

Across languages

Translations

66 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: amull — a river bottom
  • Azerbaijani: məcra — a river bottom
  • Azerbaijani: çaylaq — a river bottom
  • Azerbaijani: axacaq — a river bottom
  • Belarusian: рэ́чышча (réčyšča) — a river bottom
  • Bulgarian: кори́то (koríto) — a river bottom
  • Catalan: buc — a river bottom
  • Catalan: llit — a river bottom
  • Chinese Mandarin: 河床 (héchuáng) — a river bottom
  • Chinese Mandarin: 河槽 (hécáo) — a river bottom
  • Chuvash: ҫул (śul) — a river bottom
  • Chuvash: юхлӑх (juhlăh) — a river bottom
  • Chuvash: варак (varak) — a river bottom
  • Czech: řečiště — a river bottom
  • Dutch: rivierbedding — a river bottom
  • Dutch: rivierbed — a river bottom
  • French: lit de rivière — a river bottom
  • Galician: madre — a river bottom
  • Galician: baltrón — a river bottom
  • Galician: andurbio — a river bottom
  • German: Flussbett — a river bottom
  • Hungarian: folyómeder — a river bottom
  • Italian: alveo — a river bottom
  • Italian: letto — a river bottom
  • Italian: greto — a river bottom
  • Japanese: 河床 (kashō) — a river bottom
  • Japanese: 川底 (kawazoko) — a river bottom
  • Kazakh: арна (arna) — a river bottom
  • Komi-Permyak: ӧр (ör) — a river bottom
  • Komi-Zyrian: кырас (kyras) — a river bottom
  • Komi-Zyrian: ковтыс (kovtys) — a river bottom
  • Komi-Zyrian: ю ворга (ju vorga) — a river bottom
  • Komi-Zyrian: сёртас (śortas) — a river bottom
  • Korean: 하상 (hasang) — a river bottom
  • Macedonian: корито (korito) — a river bottom
  • Manchu: ᡤᠣᠯᠣ (golo) — a river bottom
  • Māori: whaiawa — a river bottom
  • Māori: kūkūpango — a river bottom
  • Māori: whakatakere — a river bottom
  • Māori: takere — a river bottom
  • Eastern Mari: вӱдкорно (vüdkorno) — a river bottom
  • Western Mari: вӹд корны (vÿd korny) — a river bottom
  • Classical Nahuatl: ānāntli — a river bottom
  • Occitan: mair — a river bottom
  • Old Ruthenian: рѣчище (rěčišče) — a river bottom
  • Polish: koryto — a river bottom
  • Portuguese: leito — a river bottom
  • Romanian: albie — a river bottom
  • Russian: ру́сло (rúslo) — a river bottom
  • Kildin-Sami: ва̄ввьл (vāvv’l) — a river bottom
  • Serbo-Croatian: ко̀рито — a river bottom
  • Serbo-Croatian: kòrito — a river bottom
  • Slovak: koryto — a river bottom
  • Slovene: koríto — a river bottom
  • Spanish: cauce — a river bottom
  • Spanish: lecho — a river bottom
  • Swedish: flodbädd — a river bottom
  • Tatar: үзән (üzän) — a river bottom
  • Tatar: елга юлы (yılğa yulı) — a river bottom
  • Turkish: mecra — a river bottom
  • Turkish: yatak — a river bottom
  • Turkish: akak — a river bottom
  • Udmurt: ӧр (ör) — a river bottom
  • Ukrainian: русло́ (rusló) — a river bottom
  • Ukrainian: рі́чище (ríčyšče) — a river bottom
  • Ukrainian: кори́то (korýto) — a river bottom
Real reading context

riverbed in complete knowledge articles