gulf

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun an arm of a sea or ocean partly enclosed by land; larger than a bay
  2. noun an unbridgeable disparity (as from a failure of understanding)
  3. noun a deep wide chasm

Etymology

From Middle English gulf, goulf, golf, from Old French golf, from Italian golfo, from Late Latin colfos, from Ancient Greek κόλπος (kólpos, “bosom, gulf”), of obscure origin, but possibly from Proto-Indo-European *kʷelp- (“to curve, arch”).

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