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bathyscaphe

noun

bathy·​scaphe ˈba-thi-ˌskaf How to pronounce bathyscaphe (audio)
-ˌskāf
variants or bathyscaph
: a navigable submersible for deep-sea exploration having a spherical watertight cabin attached to its underside

Examples of bathyscaphe in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Later, Auguste invented and built the first bathyscaphe. IEEE Spectrum, 25 May 2025 The dive, in 1960, was in the primitive bathyscaphe Trieste, now on display at a museum in Washington, DC. Jim Clash, Forbes, 11 Jan. 2025 The Trieste, as the bathyscaphe is known, touched down 35,814 feet beneath the ocean’s surface. U-T Staff, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Dec. 2023 In 1960, Auguste’s son Jacques Piccard steered a pressurized steel sphere called a bathyscaphe to the deepest point in the world’s oceans, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Helen Fields, Discover Magazine, 20 May 2014

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French bathyscaphe, from bathy- bathy- + Greek skáphos "hull of a ship, ship"

First Known Use

1947, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of bathyscaphe was in 1947

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Bathyscaphe.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bathyscaphe. Accessed 30 Nov. 2025.

Kids Definition

bathyscaphe

noun
bathy·​scaphe ˈbath-i-ˌskaf How to pronounce bathyscaphe (audio)
-ˌskāf
variants or bathyscaph
: a ship that can be guided underwater for deep-sea exploration and has a round watertight cabin attached to its underside

More from Merriam-Webster on bathyscaphe

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