latitude

latitude

English

Etymology

Borrowed into Middle English from Old French latitude, from Latin lātitūdō (“breadth, width, latitude”), from lātus (“broad, wide”), from older stlātus.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlæt.ɪ.tjuːd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈlæt.ɪ.tud/, /ˈlæt.ə.tjud/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

latitude (countable and uncountable, plural latitudes)

1. (geography, astronomy) The angular distance north or south from a planet's equator, measured along the meridian of that particular point.

   Coordinate term: longitude

2. (geography) An imaginary line (in fact a circumference) around a planet running parallel to the planet's equator.
3. (figurative) The relative freedom from restrictions; scope to do something.

   His parents gave him a great deal of latitude.

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), OCLC 630079698, page 208:

     "Love!" ejaculated the Comtesse; "And so throw away the chances of a life upon a month of honey!—I say a month, which is allowing a latitude tenderness never took...

4. (astronomy) The angular distance of a heavenly body from the ecliptic.
5. (photography) The extent to which a light-sensitive material can be over- or underexposed and still achieve an acceptable result.
6. Extent or scope; e.g. breadth, width or amplitude.

Usage notes

• When used to refer to distances or imaginary lines around a planet, latitude is relative to the Earth's Equator unless another planet is specified.

Hyponyms

• ascending latitude
• geolatitude
• high latitude
• low latitude

Derived terms

• high-latitude
• isolatitude
• latitude by account
• low-latitude
• mid-latitude

Related terms

• circle of latitude
• horse latitudes

Translations

angular distance north or south from the equator

Arabic: خطّ عرض‎ (xaṭṭ ͑arḍ) Bashkir: киңлек (kiŋlek) Belarusian: шырата́ f (šyratá) Bulgarian: ширина (bg) f (širina) Catalan: latitud (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 緯度／纬度 (zh) (wěidù) Czech: šířka (cs) f Danish: breddegrad (da) c Dutch: breedtegraad (nl) m Esperanto: latitudo Finnish: leveysaste (fi), leveys (fi) French: latitude (fr) f Georgian: განედი (ganedi) German: Breite (de) f, geographische Breite f, Breitengrad (de) m Greek: πλάτος (el) n (plátos) Ancient: κλίμα n (klíma) Gujarati: અક્ષાંશ (gu) (akṣā̃ś) Hungarian: szélesség (hu) Ido: latitudo (io) Italian: latitudine (it) f Japanese: 緯度 (ja) (いど, ido), ラチチュード (rachichūdo) Korean: 위도 (ko) (wido) Latin: lātitūdō f Latvian: platums m Lithuanian: platuma f Macedonian: ши́рина f (šírina), геогра́фска ши́рина f (geográfska šírina) Malay: latitud, garisan lintang Manx: dowan-lheead Norwegian: Bokmål: breddegrad (no) m, polhøyde m or f Nynorsk: breiddegrad (nn) m or f, polhøgde f Plautdietsch: Breed f Polish: szerokość (pl) f, szerokość geograficzna (pl) f Portuguese: latitude (pt) f Romanian: latitudine (ro) f Russian: широта́ (ru) f (širotá) Scottish Gaelic: domhan-leud m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ширина f Roman: širina (sh) f Slovak: zemepisná šírka f Slovene: širina (sl) f Spanish: latitud (es) f Swedish: latitud (sv) c, breddgrad (sv) c Tagalog: antaslayog Ukrainian: широта́ f (šyrotá) Vietnamese: vĩ độ (vi) Welsh: lledred m

imaginary line parallel to the equator

Bashkir: киңлек (kiŋlek) Bulgarian: паралел (bg) m (paralel) Catalan: latitud (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 緯綫／纬线 (zh) (wěixiàn), 緯圈／纬圈 (zh) (wěiquān) Esperanto: latitudo Finnish: leveyspiiri (fi) French: latitude (fr) f, parallèle (fr) m or f Georgian: განედი (ganedi), პარალელი (ṗaraleli) German: Breite (de) f, Breitenkreis m, Breitengrad (de) m Greek: γεωγραφικό πλάτος (el) n (geografikó plátos) Gujarati: અક્ષાંશ (gu) (akṣā̃ś) Hebrew: קַו רֹחַב‎ (he) m (kav rokhav) Ido: latitudo (io) Italian: latitudine (it) f Japanese: 緯線 (いせん, isen) Korean: 위선 (ko) (wiseon) Latin: lātitūdō f Macedonian: напо́редник m (napórednik), парале́ла f (paraléla) Malay: garis lintang Manx: dowan-lheead Maori: ahopae Moore: bĩin-paadse Norwegian: Bokmål: breddegrad (no) m Nynorsk: breiddegrad (nn) m or f Polish: równoleżnik (pl) m Portuguese: latitude (pt) f Romanian: latitudine (ro) f Russian: паралле́ль (ru) f (parallélʹ), широта́ (ru) f (širotá) Scottish Gaelic: domhan-leud m Slovak: rovnobežka f Spanish: latitud (es) f Swedish: latitud (sv) c Tagalog: antaslayog Telugu: అక్షాంశము (te) (akṣāṁśamu) Vietnamese: vĩ tuyến (vi) Welsh: lledred m

freedom from restrictions

Bashkir: иркенлек (irkenlek) Finnish: vapaus (fi), toimintavapaus French: marge (fr) f German: Spielraum (de) m Greek: χαλαρότητα (el) f (chalarótita) Hungarian: mozgástér Norwegian: Bokmål: handlingsrom (no) n, spillerom n Nynorsk: handlingsrom n, spelerom n Polish: swoboda (pl) f Romanian: latitudine (ro) f Russian: свобо́да (ru) f (svobóda), самостоя́тельность (ru) f (samostojátelʹnostʹ), во́ля (ru) f (vólja) Serbo-Croatian: sloboda (sh) f Slovak: voľnosť f Spanish: holgura (es) f Swedish: latitud (sv) c, handlingsfrihet c, spelrum (sv) n Turkish: serbestlik (tr) Welsh: rhyddid (cy) m, penrhyddid m, rhwydd hynt f

angular distance of a heavenly body from the ecliptic

Bashkir: киңлек (kiŋlek) Finnish: deklinaatio (fi) Greek: πλάτος (el) n (plátos) Ancient: πλάτος n (plátos) Norwegian: latitude (no) m Polish: szerokość (pl) f, szerokość ekliptyczna f Russian: широта́ (ru) f (širotá) Spanish: latitud (es) f Welsh: lledred m

extent to which a light-sensitive material can be over- or underexposed

Finnish: valotusvara Italian: latitudine di posa f Russian: широта́ (ru) f (širotá)

extent or scope

Bulgarian: обхват (bg) m (obhvat) Finnish: laajuus (fi) Latin: lātitūdō f Scottish Gaelic: leud m Serbo-Croatian: opseg (sh) m Swedish: latitud (sv) c

See also

• northing
• zonal

Anagrams

• altitude

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French

Etymology

From Latin lātitūdō (“breadth, width, latitude”), from lātus (“broad, wide”), from older stlātus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /la.ti.tyd/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

latitude f (plural latitudes)

1. expansion, breadth

   Ce principe peut avoir une grande latitude.

   Donner trop de latitude à une proposition, à l’application d’un principe.

   Laisser beaucoup de latitude aux agents chargés d’une mission.

   Avoir toute latitude pour: avoir toute liberté pour.

2. (geography) the distance from a place to the equator measured in degrees on the meridian; parallel viewing
   • 1921, Henry-D. Davray and B. Kozakiewicz (translators), H.G. Wells (author), La Guerre dans les Airs, Mercure de France, page 174:

     C’est ici que ça se passe, 30°50’ de latitude nord, 30°50’ de longitude ouest… à une journée de distance pour nous, et ils filent sud-sud-ouest à toute vapeur. À ce train-là nous ne verrons rien, […].

   • 1928, Jean-Baptiste Charcot, Dans la mer du Groenland:

     Le Scoresby Sund est le plus vaste fjord du monde entier. Il est découpé dans la côte Orientale du Groenland entre 70° et 72° de latitude Nord et 22° et 30° de longitude Ouest de Greenwich.

   • 1929, Alain Gerbault, À la poursuite du soleil, volume 1: De New-York à Tahiti:

     […] le 12 mars, par 20 degrés de latitude Nord, je rencontrai les vents alizés, je pouvais compter dorénavant sur un plus faible et agréable navigation dans les mers tropicales.

3. (by extension) Different areas under a given temperature due to their greater or lesser distance from the equator

   À la différence des animaux, l’homme peut vivre sous les latitudes les plus opposées.

4. (astronomy) the angle with a plane parallel to the ecliptic, the straight line that passes through a heavenly body and a particular centre on this plane

   Latitude australe ou boréale.

   Latitude héliocentrique, géocentrique, etc.

   Latitude de Sirius.

5. freedom

Antonyms

• longitude

References

• All or part of this article is from the Dictionary of the French Academy, Eighth Edition, 1932-1935, but it may have been modified since.

Further reading

• “latitude”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Old French

Etymology

From Latin lātitūdō (“breadth, width, latitude”).

Noun

latitude f (oblique plural latitudes, nominative singular latitude, nominative plural latitudes)

1. breadth

Descendants

• → Middle English: latitude
• French: latitude

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Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /la.t͡ʃiˈtu.d͡ʒi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /la.t͡ʃiˈtu.d͡ʒi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /la.t͡ʃiˈtu.de/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /lɐ.tiˈtu.d(ɨ)/ [lɐ.tiˈtu.ð(ɨ)]

Noun

latitude f (plural latitudes)

1. (geography, astronomy) latitude (angular distance north or south from the equator)
2. (geography) latitude (imaginary line parallel to the equator)