Standard Lemma guide

seaplane

noun · 3 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.

  • General-American: /ˈsiˌpleɪn/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any aircraft capable of taking off from, and alighting on the surface of water.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: aircraft

Topics: nautical, transport

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: hydroplane

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

an airplane that can land on or take off from water

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the designer of marine aircraft demonstrated his newest hydroplane

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: hydroplane

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: airplane, aeroplane, plane

Narrower terms: floatplane, pontoon plane, flying boat

3

verb

Meaning 3

glide on the water in a hydroplane

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: hydroplane

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: fly, aviate, pilot

History

Etymology

From sea + plane. Supposedly coined by Winston Churchill.

Across languages

Translations

37 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: vliegboot — an aircraft
  • Basque: ur-hegazkin — an aircraft
  • Bulgarian: хидроплан (hidroplan) — an aircraft
  • Catalan: hidroavió — an aircraft
  • Chinese Mandarin: 水上飛機 /水上飞机 (shuǐshàng fēijī) — an aircraft
  • Czech: hydroplán — an aircraft
  • Danish: vandfly — an aircraft
  • Dutch: watervliegtuig — an aircraft
  • Esperanto: hidroplano — an aircraft
  • Estonian: vesilennuk — an aircraft
  • Faroese: sjóflogfar — an aircraft
  • Finnish: vesitaso — an aircraft
  • Finnish: vesilentokone — an aircraft
  • French: hydravion — an aircraft
  • Galician: hidroavión — an aircraft
  • Georgian: ჰიდროთვითმფრინავი (hidrotvitmprinavi) — an aircraft
  • Georgian: ჰიდროპლანი (hidroṗlani) — an aircraft
  • German: Wasserflugzeug — an aircraft
  • Greek: υδροπλάνο (ydropláno) — an aircraft
  • Hungarian: hidroplán — an aircraft
  • Icelandic: sjóflugvél — an aircraft
  • Italian: idrovolante — an aircraft
  • Japanese: 水上機 (suijōki) — an aircraft
  • Macedonian: хидроавио́н (hidroavión) — an aircraft
  • Norwegian Bokmål: sjøfly — an aircraft
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: sjøfly — an aircraft
  • Polish: wodnosamolot — an aircraft
  • Polish: hydroplan — an aircraft
  • Portuguese: hidroavião — an aircraft
  • Romanian: hidroavion — an aircraft
  • Russian: гидросамолёт (gidrosamoljót) — an aircraft
  • Russian: гидропла́н (gidroplán) — an aircraft
  • Slovene: hidroplan — an aircraft
  • Spanish: hidroavión — an aircraft
  • Spanish: hidroplano — an aircraft
  • Swedish: sjöflygplan — an aircraft
  • Vietnamese: thủy phi cơ — an aircraft
Real reading context

seaplane in complete knowledge articles