El Niño
noun
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
Graham P. Johnson, Twin Cities, 6 Feb. 2025
The next year, a major fire ripped through Malibu, destroying hundreds of homes and later, when the El Nino storms arrived, resulted in mudslides that shut off major coastal routes for months.
—Gary Baum, The Hollywood Reporter, 18 Jan. 2025
On a press call Friday, Russell Vose, chief of the Product Development Branch at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, suggested the recent El Nino that ended in May was also a likely contributor, as well as reductions in air pollution over the oceans that allowed more sunlight to warm them.
—Rachel Frazin, The Hill, 10 Jan. 2025
An active El Nino brought heavy rains to the event all week, including the closest-to-the-pin contest, where a strong storm chased spectators from that event.
—Visual Editors, USA TODAY, 20 Dec. 2024
The Economic Impact of El Niño Looking at the economic impact of the El Nino's weather pattern across the globe.
—JSTOR Daily, 24 June 2024
In contrast, the outgoing El Nino pattern usually helps suppress Atlantic hurricane activity, experts say.
—Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 14 June 2024
But this year, countries have received higher than average rainfall due to the El Nino weather phenomenon.
—Emmanuel Igunza, NPR, 10 May 2024
In Zimbabwe, where the El Nino phenomenon has worsened a drought, small-scale farmer James Tshuma has lost hope of harvesting anything from his fields.
—Farai Mutsaka, Fortune, 28 Apr. 2024
Cite this Entry
“El Niño.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/El%20Ni%C3%B1o. Accessed 6 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
El Niño
noun
Spanish, "the child" (referring to the Christ child); from the appearance of the flow at the Christmas season
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