Main Entry: El Ni·ño

Pronunciation: \el-ˈnē-nyō\

Function: noun

Inflected Form(s): plural El Niños

Etymology: Spanish, literally, the child (i.e., the Christ child); from the appearance of the flow at the Christmas season

Date: 1896

: an irregularly recurring flow of unusually warm surface waters from the Pacific Ocean toward and along the western coast of South America that prevents upwelling of nutrient-rich cold deep water and that disrupts typical regional and global weather patterns — compare la niña