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Pangaea

or Pan·ge·a

[pan-jee-uh]
noun Geology.
  1. the hypothetical landmass that existed when all continents were joined, from about 300 to 200 million years ago.
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Compare supercontinent.

Origin of Pangaea

1920–25; pan- + Greek gaîa earth; allegedly coined by German meteorologist Alfred L. Wegener (1880–1930)
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

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British Dictionary definitions for pangea

Pangaea

Pangea

noun
  1. the ancient supercontinent, comprising all the present continents joined together, which began to break up about 200 million years agoSee also Laurasia, Gondwanaland
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Word Origin

C20: from Greek, literally: all-earth
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for pangea

Pangaea

"supercontinent of the late Paleozoic era," 1924, from Greek pan- "all" (see pan-) + gaia "earth" (see gaia). First attested in German, 1920, in Alfred Wegener's "Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane" (not found in 1914 first edition, according to OED).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
pangea in Science

Pangaea

[păn-jē′ə]
  1. A supercontinent made up of all the world's present landmasses joined together in the configuration they are thought to have had during the Permian and Triassic Periods. According to the theory of plate tectonics, Pangaea later broke up into Laurasia and Gondwanaland, which eventually broke up into the continents we know today.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
pangea in Culture

Pangaea

[(pan-jee-uh)]

A former “supercontinent” on the Earth. In the distant past a large landmass, Pangaea, included all the present continents, which broke up and drifted apart. (See plate tectonics.)

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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.