seafaring

seafaring

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English safarinde, see farand, se farinde, equivalent to sea +‎ faring (“travelling; journeying; going”). Compare Old English sǣ-līþende (“seafaring”). Cognate with Dutch zeevarend (“seafaring”), German Low German seefahrend (“seafaring”),German seefahrend (“seafaring”), Danish søfarende (“seafaring”), Swedish sjöfarande (“seafaring”).

Adjective

seafaring (comparative more seafaring, superlative most seafaring)

1. Living one's life at sea.
   • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter IV

     There was absolutely nothing about the body to suggest that it might possibly in life have known a maritime experience. It was the body of a low type of man or a high type of beast. In neither instance would it have been of a seafaring race. Therefore I deduced that it was native to Caprona--that it lived inland, and that it had fallen or been hurled from the cliffs above.

2. Fit to travel on the sea; seagoing.
   • A rowing boat is not a seafaring craft.

Translations

following a life at sea

Finnish: merenkulkija- (fi) Manx: marrinagh Norwegian: Bokmål: sjøfarende Nynorsk: sjøfarande

Russian: мореходный (ru) m (morexodnyj) Scottish Gaelic: cuantach

fit to travel on the sea — see seagoing

Etymology 2

From sea +‎ faring.

Noun

seafaring (plural seafarings)

1. The act, process, or practice of travelling the seas
2. The work, or calling of a sailor.

Translations

work or calling of a sailor

Finnish: merenkulku (fi)