El Niño

noun

El Ni·​ño el-ˈnē-nyō 

plural El Niños

: 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

Did you know?

Each year around Christmas time, a warm equatorial current flows southward along the coast of Peru. In the 19th century, Peruvian fisherman named that annual current "El Niño" in honor of the Christ child (el niño means "the child" in Spanish). Later, when scientists noted that in some years this warm current flow is more intense than usual, they adopted the name and applied it to that more potent but erratic climatic phenomenon. Now El Niño is used almost exclusively for the severe episodes rather than for the annual ones to which it was originally applied.

Examples of El Niño in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Wall Street bank blamed soaring diesel and fertilizer costs caused by the Strait of Hormuz crisis, tensions in the Black Sea threatening the global grain trade and the risk of drought and extreme heat brought on by El Nino. — Matt Egan, CNN Money, 11 Sep. 2026

That’s compounded by the powerful El Nino, a large patch of extraordinarily warm water developing off the coast of South America right now. — Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times, 10 Sep. 2026

How El Nino influences hurricane season activity While El Nino is only one of several key factors that influence tropical activity, the strong event is driving the lack of activity in the Atlantic and the back-to-back storms in the eastern Pacific. — Dan Peck, ABC News, 10 Sep. 2026

While the geological events would occur anyway, one problem is that the onset of the super El Nino phenomenon is setting off more risks of extreme weather worldwide. — Justina Lee, CNBC, 8 Sep. 2026

Word History

Etymology

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

First Known Use

1896, in the meaning defined above

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Kids Definition

El Niño

noun

El Ni·​ño el-ˈnē-nyō 

plural El Niños

: an irregularly occurring flow of unusually warm surface water along the western coast of South America that disrupts the normal regional and global weather patterns compare la niña

Etymology

Spanish, "the child" (referring to the Christ child); from the appearance of the flow at the Christmas season