# Difference between tidal wave and tsunami **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 31, 2004, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-tidal-wave-and-tsunami/282396 "2004-12-31T07:58:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WeRSauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f19dbf/32.png) [@WeRSauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WeRSauron)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2004, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-tidal-wave-and-tsunami/282396/1 "2004-12-31T07:58:55Z")
What’s the difference between a tidal wave and a tsunami? Are they synonyms? Is there some technical difference between the two as used by meteorologists and/or other people in fields related to such phenomenon? WRS/Thû ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2004, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-tidal-wave-and-tsunami/282396/2 "2004-12-31T08:18:15Z")
There is no difference between the popular use of the phrase “tidal wave” and the current term used by the scientific community, “tsunami.” Tidal wave had occurred in English on a few occasions in the 19th century in connection with tidal bores and similar phenomena. In the 1870s, A reference appears in the 1919 OED citing an 1870s usage of a “tidal wave” that struck Lisbon, but the notation is that the usage was _ **erron.** _ Nevertheless, the phrase caught on and was used through much of the twentieth century. A number of earth scientists decided in the 1960s to use the earlier Japanese word _tsunami_ to identify that particular phenomenon and the news media began picking up the “scientific” term in the 1970s until it has, today, pretty well supplanted the phrase “tidal wave.” ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2004, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-tidal-wave-and-tsunami/282396/3 "2004-12-31T08:20:54Z")
One is caused by the tides, one is caused by geological means. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2004, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-tidal-wave-and-tsunami/282396/4 "2004-12-31T08:22:57Z")
There has been some “discussion” of the topic in the thread [So, has “tidal wave” gone the way of “brontosaurus” (literally & lexicographically)?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=293992) ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-tidal-wave-and-tsunami/282396/5 "2005-01-01T04:14:28Z")
And, BTW, \* tsunami \* is Japanese for “harbor wave”. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-tidal-wave-and-tsunami/282396/6 "2005-01-01T04:35:15Z")
They tried it with; Seagull (gull). Starfish (seastar). Uranus (your un us, not the more proper your anus). And many more. Just keep saying “tidal wave”, and they’ll give up. Peace, mangeorge (tireless defender of language.) ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-tidal-wave-and-tsunami/282396/7 "2005-01-01T05:16:04Z")
[Straight from the NOAA.](http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/abouttsunamis.htm) > [@](#): > > “Tsunami” is the Japanese term meaning wave in the harbor. As such it is most descriptive of the observed phenomenon frequently referred to as tidal wave or seismic sea wave, with both of these terms having misleading connotations with respect to the mechanism of generation. In South America, the term “maremoto” is frequently used. However the use of the word “tsunami” is most commonly accepted by scientists and by most of the lay public in Pacific basin countries. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-tidal-wave-and-tsunami/282396/8 "2005-01-01T05:29:35Z")
See???