Coral Reef, Cove, Current, Cusp - Word Origins, Descriptions of Coastal Features, Processes

In the current alphabetic series of word origins and physical descriptions of coastal features and processes, here are coral reef, cove, current, and cusp.

Coral Reef
Modern English coral comes from Middle English coral, from Middle French coral, from Latin corallium, from Greek korallion.

The word coral denotes any of about 2,300 species of marine animals called cnidarians (in the class Anthozoa) that have stony, horny, or leathery skeletons. The skeletons, too, are called coral.

The most familiar and widely distributed forms are the stony corals, found in coastal waters in many parts of the world. The skeletons of stony corals massed together compose coral reefs in shallow ocean areas.

A coral reef is a ridge or mound of rock produced by the accumulation of skeletons from living coral. Most living corals deposit calcium around themselves. When the corals die, the calcium structures are left behind. Other corals build their shells on top of the previous calcium skeletons. Thus the coral reef grows.

Cove
Modern English cove comes from Middle English cove ("cave, den"), from Old English cofa ("small room"). The word is akin to Old High German chubisi ("hut").

A small sheltered bay or inlet on a coast is a cove. The word is also used to denote a shallow tidal stream, a backwater near the mouth of a tidal stream, or an arm of a sea.

Current
Modern English current comes from Middle English curraunt ("that which runs or flows"), from the adjective curraunt ("running"), from Old French curant ("running"), the present participle of courre ("to run"), from Latin currere ("to run").

A movement, usually horizontal, of ocean water is a current. Ocean currents are classified in many different ways, such as periodic, especially tidal currents, those accompanying the tides; temporary, including currents caused by seasonal winds; and permanent, those currents that are part of the general circulation of the ocean. Nearshore currents are caused mainly by waves breaking on a shore. Coastal currents run parallel to a coast.

Cusp
English cusp comes from Latin cuspis ("point").

In general usage, a cusp is any point or apex. In architecture, it is the point created by the intersection of lobed or scalloped forms, especially in arches.

On a coast, a cusp is a landform consisting of a seaward-pointing ridge with a crescent-shaped indentation on one side or each side. Typically such cusps form a series along a shore.

The word is often used in adjective form, cuspate, meaning having a cusp or being shaped like a cusp, as in "a cuspate shoreline."
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Encyclopaedia Britannica Ready Reference 2004. CD-ROM. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2004.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. 11th ed. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 2006.

Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary. 3rd ed. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 2007.

The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1989.