BharatNotes Cirque
noun (countable)Usage in a UPSC answer
A cirque at the head of a glaciated valley often holds a small lake, or tarn, once the ice has melted.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Word Family
cirque (noun), cirque glacier (compound noun), corrie (synonym noun)
Root
French cirque = circle, amphitheatre; from Latin circus = ring, circle
Etymology
Borrowed directly from French cirque, which derives from Latin circus (ring or circular arena, as in Roman chariot tracks). The synonym corrie (Scottish Gaelic) and cwm (Welsh) reflect local terminology for the same landform.
Memory Hook
A cirque is shaped like a CIRCular amphitheatre carved by a glacier, the same root as 'circus ring'. Picture an ancient Roman circus carved into a mountain by ice.
How This Word Works in UPSC Writing
An armchair-shaped hollow excavated at the head of a glacial valley by plucking and abrasion. It is the starting point of the classic glacial sequence in GS1: cirques enlarge and coalesce to produce arêtes between them and a horn where three or more meet. Naming that progression is worth more than describing the feature alone.
Don’t Confuse It With
A cirque is the hollow at a glacier's head. A tarn is the lake that occupies it after the ice retreats. An arête is the sharp ridge between two adjacent cirques. A horn is the pyramidal peak left where several cirques cut back into the same summit.
Hindi Meaning
हिमज गह्वर (himaj gahvar) or सर्क, the loanword.
Common Questions
- What is a cirque?
- An armchair-shaped hollow carved at the head of a glacial valley by the plucking and abrasion of ice.
- What landforms develop from cirques?
- As cirques enlarge they form arêtes between adjacent hollows, and where several cut back into one summit they leave a pyramidal horn.
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