# Do most languages have different words for the different phases of water? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 26, 2014, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-most-languages-have-different-words-for-the-different-phases-of-water/694086 "2014-07-26T05:30:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-most-languages-have-different-words-for-the-different-phases-of-water/694086/21 "2014-07-29T11:48:47Z")
I’d imagine that languages from desert/tropical locations might not have a word for _ice_. Does Arabic have a word for it? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-most-languages-have-different-words-for-the-different-phases-of-water/694086/22 "2014-07-29T12:34:58Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I’d imagine that languages from desert/tropical locations might not have a word for _ice_. Does Arabic have a word for it? Why wouldn’t they? It might not have had one in the 5th century, but once it got to be spoken in lands that are now Morocco, Serbia or Spain, it would get one toot-suit. That’s without even getting into far-ranging travelers. Both Spanish and Portuguese have words for iceberg and most of the countries where those languages are spoken are unlikely to see one… ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-most-languages-have-different-words-for-the-different-phases-of-water/694086/23 "2014-07-29T12:36:41Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I’d imagine that languages from desert/tropical locations might not have a word for _ice_. Does Arabic have a word for it? Plenty of places in the Arab-speaking world have snow and ice. And you can still get ice in your drinks (although it is not always wise to do so!) The most common word is جليد (jaleed), I believe. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-most-languages-have-different-words-for-the-different-phases-of-water/694086/24 "2014-07-29T22:57:18Z")
> [@Saturn\_Dreams](#): > > Oh, it was online. Then it must be true. It is true. One of the meanings of _ki_ in Japanese (the relevant one in words such as _jouki_ and _yuge_) is “vapour”. Now feel free to provide a cite for your claim that _ki_ “represents the state of something”. ---
**Author:** ![Saturn\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Saturn\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saturn_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-most-languages-have-different-words-for-the-different-phases-of-water/694086/25 "2014-07-30T11:56:28Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > It is true. One of the meanings of _ki_ in Japanese (the relevant one in words such as _jouki_ and _yuge_) is “vapour”. “Ki” is not the same as “jouki” and “yuge”. And reread what I wrote. [QUOTE=Saturn Dreams] “Ki” does not mean steam in Japanese… [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-most-languages-have-different-words-for-the-different-phases-of-water/694086/26 "2014-07-30T15:15:35Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I’m not sure it’s the importance of water as it is the antiquity. > > As a generalization, the earlier concepts enter language the more likely they are to be named individually. If you look at irregular verbs, as an example, the more basic the concept the more likely they are to be irregular. I once read that “to be” is irregular in every language, though I can’t confirm that. > > Hydrogen is quite modern compared to water as a concept. It’s not surprising that it developed in a different way linguistically. This is a perfectly sensible explanation for the irregular forms to describe water in it’s three states. The words for ice, water, and steam would have appeared in the earliest languages. But aside from water what would be the next substance to be observed in different states? Wax maybe? Gold? How long did it take for people to realize steam was not smoke and could condense back to water? The words for the different phases of other substances might not have appeared for millenia after the use of words for water in it’s different forms. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-most-languages-have-different-words-for-the-different-phases-of-water/694086/27 "2014-07-30T22:32:47Z")
> [@Saturn\_Dreams](#): > > “Ki” is not the same as “jouki” and “yuge”. And reread what I wrote. Okay. You wrote that “it [_ki_] represents the state of something” and you analysed _jouki_ as meaning “gaseous state”. If you had been able to provide a cite for 気　meaning “the state of something”, this would have supported your position. In the absence of such a cite, I believe you are mistaken, and that the characters in 蒸気　_jouki_ mean “steam vapour”, and in 湯気　_yuge_ mean “hot-water vapour”. ---
**Author:** ![Saturn\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Saturn\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saturn_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-most-languages-have-different-words-for-the-different-phases-of-water/694086/28 "2014-07-31T06:59:18Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > In the absence of such a cite, I believe you are mistaken, and that the characters in 蒸気　_jouki_ mean “steam vapour”, and in 湯気　_yuge_ mean “hot-water vapour”. This is very different from your claim that “ki” means steam, which I think we can agree it doesn’t. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-most-languages-have-different-words-for-the-different-phases-of-water/694086.md?page=1)