Growing up I assumed that a “stream” was an intermediate size waterway between a creek and a river. A lot of people I have asked have agreed with this, as well as Wiktionary.
However, looking at maps, I noticed waterways are almost never called “stream” X: Creek and River are common in America, and regional variants like run, wash, kill appear as well, but almost never “stream” per se.
Furthermore, Wikipedia uses the hydrological meaning of stream which is any waterway with flowing water and banks, i.e. pretty much any river or creek.
I also note that even if they have internatlized the definition as a medium sized waterway, people rarely use the term stream to refer to it as such except in the context of specialized terminology such as “trout stream”, which, to be fair, is usually a medium sized waterway.
So, how do Dopers use the term? I myself always think of a medium sized waterway but rarely use the term, instead saying “large creek” or “small river”.
You didn’t include what I refer to as a stream in the poll, which is any small waterway that’s smaller than what I would call a river.
I consider it a synonym of creek, really. If it’s one, it’s also the other.
Hell, if anything, I consider a creek maybe slightly bigger than a stream. Like…a really small flow of water can be both, but at some point, I consider it too large to say “stream,” and then it’s only a creek, until it gets big enough to be a river.
Also, please don’t ask me to give any sort of sizes, or flow amounts, it’s pretty much a case-by-case basis.
Edit: I just realized why I consider a creek to be the bigger of the two. There’s a river near where I grew up called Otter Creek. A full-on river, it’s a creek in name only. But it’s sort of solidified my thinking that “creek is bigger than stream.”
A stream and a creek are the same thing. Down south creek is used more often than stream. There’s no clear dividing line between a stream (or creek) and a river. If it’s big enough it’ll be called a river. In Pennsylvania the Great Valley Stream is a common name for a tributary of the Schuykil (skookl) River. Up here along the RI/Mass border is the Abbot Valley Run, where ‘run’ is another name for a stream or creek. Alliteration and poetic form come into play, you’ll see Cross Creek is a more likely name than Cross Stream.
Everything I can find via Google shows that creeks are larger than streams, which matches my knowledge and experience growing up in mountains with brooks, branches, springs, streams, creeks, and rivers as well as my experience in biology courses in college.
I believe that a brook is smaller than a creek which is smaller than a stream which is smaller than a river. Of course, that doesn’t address what the locals up here in the mountains call a ‘branch’.
ETA: Troppus may well be correct. Heck, I have a hard time getting people to stop calling my 10 foot wide creek, a river.
I regularly paddle Buffalo Creek. There have been several deaths due to drowning. I also paddle the Allegheny River. Up near its origin I can walk across the river wearing shorts and never get my clothes wet.
I live in the arid southwest. A “creek” (to me) is a shallow, rocky flow of water that may only run during the spring. A “stream” is a little deeper, although may be narrower across, and runs year-round more reliably.
Yeah, probably this. I can wade across many areas of the narrow Holston River I regularly paddle on, and people bordering the Mississippi would label the Holston a “creek”. A named branch dissects my front yard and but most people ask me if my “stream” floods in the spring or dries up late summer. My experience tells me that branches and streams may dry up in a drought, but creeks and rivers flow regardless of weather conditions. But I can’t back that up.
So for me in order of decreasing size: river, creek, stream, branch, spring.
ETA, my experience with the terms is the opposite of Lightlystarched. I’m in Appalachia, if that matters.
This is part of it, in that there is a reluctance to rename something into a “creek” as long as it is a river at some point and is the main branch of the waterway.
To me, creeks are smaller than rivers. The dividing line seems to be that rivers are large enough to regularly carry boats. Both rivers and creeks are permanent. ‘Stream’ seems a more general and formal term, possibly used legally, for any flowing water, even a temporary one. And a ‘watercourse’ is the landform that channels and creates a stream.
I’d concur with that. In fact, I regard some things that are rivers to be streams.
If it’s non-tidal, narrow enough that I can chuck a rock across it, and it’s distinctly more water flowing through and over rocks than flat water, then it’s a stream. If it’s non-tidal and I can jump across it in most places, it’s a stream.
I’m the other way around: to me, creeks are a subset of streams, but definitely on the small end. There’s some room in between a big creek and a small river, AFAIAC.
And I was thinking of the Hardware River directly south of Charlottesville, VA.
I think officially whether it’s a river depends on its length, but my attitude is, it can be a creek or stream upstream, then become a river further down.
In UK usage, “creek” usually refers to a tidal estuary, typically among mudflats. These are creeks.
A stream is just a small river, but not many waterways have the word in their official names. Rivers are usually called “River X” right from the source, but I’d call them a stream if I could comfortably jump across them.
Reading this thread, in addition to these words having size connotations (of somewhat indeterminate value), it has occurred to me that for me, at least, they also have qualitative aspects. When I say the word creek, I get the picture of a small waterway in a rural or wilderness setting, specifically Appalachian for some reason. (Double that if I pronounce it ‘crick’. Brooks, on the other hand, live in similar settings, but in England, and often are accompanied by talking animals.) When I say the word stream, I see a small waterway that is immaculately manicured, winding with unbesmirched good manners and taste through the perfectly landscaped grounds of a stately home.
Around here ships go up the creeks and some of them have drawbridges so the sail boats can get through.
When the creek down the road flooded during Isabel the water was up to the roofs of the houses.
I’ve asked several water men the difference between a creek and a river and nobody can agree. It seems to be whatever they were named is what they are.
I think of streams and brooks as always being freshwater, more shallow and something you can probably walk across or wear waders to fish in. Maybe have to swim a few strokes in the deeper parts. You can see the bottom in most places.
Rivers and creeks can have piers and small beaches, you can swim in them.
Streams and brooks wouldn’t have a pier or a beach, but you could splash around in them.
You could get your toe pinched by a crab in a river or creek. You can find crayfish hiding under the rocks in a stream or brook.
IMHO a stream is a natural continuously flowing body of water constrained by banks, from the source to when it turns into something bigger. Anything from a mere trickle up to a river can be called a stream.
If I used all four terms on a regular basis, they would mean:
Brook – A very small creek, one that you can cross in many places without even getting wet in most seasons. But a brook is also always a creek.
Creek – Smaller than a river. Sometimes difficult to cross without getting wet, but you usually can manage if you look hard enough for rocks and narrow places. In the rainy/melt season this might not be possible.
Stream – Bigger than a creek. The dividing line is that if you probably cannot cross it without getting wet then it is a stream, but there are exceptions. Some waterways are not easily divided between creeks and streams, and sometimes you can’t decide if something is a stream or a river.
River – Bigger than a stream. You definitely cannot cross a river without getting wet and you most likely will either have to swim or not be able to cross it at all. (It is still a river if you have to wade as long as it is wide enough)
But like I said before I do not actually use this terminology. I usually just use creek and river, only using stream occasionally for large creeks or small rivers. I only use brook for picturesque small creeks
Brooks, on the other hand, live in similar settings, but in England, and often are accompanied by talking animals.) When I say the word stream, I see a small waterway that is immaculately manicured, winding with unbesmirched good manners and taste through the perfectly landscaped grounds of a stately home.
