Most likely from English Semai

From Middle English see, from Old English sǣ, from Proto-West Germanic *saiwi, from Proto-Germanic *saiwiz (compare Western Frisian see, Dutch zee, German See, Danish sø, Norwegian Bokmål sjø, Swedish sjö), probably either from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂ey- (compare Latin saevus, Tocharian B saiwe, Latvian sievs, sīvs; more at sore) or derived from *sīhwaną ("to percolate, filter"), in which case *saiwiz is from earlier *saigwiz, Pre-Germanic *soykʷ-ís.

• enPR: sē, IPA: /siː/
• (obsolete) enPR: sā, IPA: /seɪ/

sea (plural seas)

1. A large body of salt water.

   Synonyms: ogin

   1. The ocean; the continuous body of salt water covering a majority of the Earth's surface.
      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Leviticus 11:9 ↗, column 2:

        These ſhal ye eat, of all that are in the waters: whatsoeuer hath finnes and ſcales in the waters, in the ſeas, and in the riuers, them ſhall ye eate.

   2. A body of salt water smaller than an ocean, generally forming part of, or connecting with, an ocean or a larger sea.

      The Mediterranean Sea, the Caribbean Sea, the Sea of Crete, etc.

2. A lake, especially if large or if salty or brackish.

   The Caspian Sea, the Sea of Galilee, the Salton Sea, etc.

3. The swell of the sea; a single wave; billow.
   • 1792, William Bligh, chapter II, in A Voyage to the South Sea, […] in His Majesty’s Ship The Bounty, […], London: […] George Nicol, […], →OCLC ↗, page 14 ↗:

     One ſea broke away the ſpare yards and ſpars out of the ſtarboard main chains. Another heavy ſea broke into the ſhip and ſtove all the boats. Several caſks of beer, that had been laſhed upon deck, were broke looſe and waſhed overboard, and it was not without great difficulty and riſk that we were able to ſecure the boats from being waſhed away entirely.

   • 2020 June 8, National Weather Service Boston, 2:38 PM EDT marine forecast

     High pressure will maintain light winds and flat seas through Tue night. ... Potential for briefly choppy 3 ft seas near South Coast...

4. (attributive, in combination) Living or used in or on the sea; of, near, or like the sea.

   Seaman, sea gauge, sea monster, sea horse, sea level, seaworthy, seaport, seaboard, etc.

5. (figurative) Anything resembling the vastness or turbulence of the sea in mass, size or quantity.
6. (physics) A constant flux of gluons splitting into quarks, which annihilate to produce further gluons.
7. (planetology) A large, dark plain of rock; a mare.

   The Apollo 11 mission landed in the Sea of Tranquility.

8. (planetology) A very large lake of liquid hydrocarbon.

• French: mer
• German: Meer, See
• Italian: mare
• Portuguese: mar
• Russian: мо́ре
• Spanish: mar

1. (sports) Abbreviation of Seattle
2. Initialism of Southeast Asia
3. Initialism of Single European Act

sea (uncountable)

1. Initialism of w:Strategic environmental assessment

1. Surname.
2. A hamlet in Ilminster, South Somerset (OS grid ref ST3413).