pingo

[ ping-goh ]

/ ˈpɪŋ goʊ /

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noun, plural pin·gos.Geology.

a hill of soil-covered ice pushed up by hydrostatic pressure in an area of permafrost.

a hill of similar origin remaining after the melting of permafrost.

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Origin of pingo

First recorded in 1925–30, pingo is from the Inuit word pinguq

Words nearby pingo

pinfish, pinfold, ping, pinger, Ping Hsin, pingo, ping-pong, pinguid, pinhead, pinheaded, pinhole

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use pingo in a sentence

Si l narra algn lance en que un ginete bien montado evit un sablazo o una lanzada, ladeando el caballo, dice que soslay el pingo.
Heath's Modern Language Series: The Spanish American Reader|Ernesto Nelson
There was a picture of a beautiful lady using Pingo, her face expressing rapture.
If Winter Don't|Barry Pain
But still, if that miserable Pingo or Ponceau—I never know what his name is—was only agreeable.
The Flower Girl of The Chteau d'Eau, v.1 (Novels of Paul de Kock Volume XV)|Charles Paul de Kock
But the man of course did not move or stand up with his pingo.
Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon|J. Emerson Tennent

British Dictionary definitions for pingo

pingo

/ (ˈpɪŋɡəʊ) /

noun plural -gos

a mound of earth or gravel formed through pressure from a layer of water trapped between newly frozen ice and underlying permafrost in Arctic regions

Word Origin for pingo

C20: from Inuktitut

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

Scientific definitions for pingo

pingo

[ pĭng′gō ]

Plural pingos pingoes

A large mound or dome of ice covered with soil. Pingos are about 30 to 50 m (98 to 164 ft) high and up to 400 m (1,312 ft) in diameter and are found in Arctic regions. They are believed to form in basins (such as drained lake beds) as a result of the freezing and upward expansion of water held in subsurface soil, which initiates the doming, as well as by the rising and freezing of water trapped beneath or within the permafrost, as a result of hydrostatic pressure.