Disaster dictionary by Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, Bangladesh 

Waterbodies & Flow

• নদী (Nodī) – River. In Bangla folk songs (bhatiyali), the river is a metaphor for life’s journey, separation, and union:
  “নদীর বুকে নৌকা ভাসে, মাঝি বলে টান…” (“On the river’s chest floats a boat…”)

• খাল (Khal) – Canal. Rural children swim, women wash, and farmers irrigate through the khal; many villages are named after their khal.

• ঝরনা (Jhorna) – Waterfall or spring, often celebrated in Sylheti songs about hilly landscapes.

• ডোবা (Doba) – Rainwater depression. Common in proverbs: “ডোবায় মাছ, ঘরে খাস” (“Fish from the doba feeds the home”).

Standing Water & Wetlands

• হাওর (Haor) – Large floodplain depression. In Sylheti ballads and baul songs, haors are described as endless water in monsoon, endless fields in winter. The phrase “হাওর-বাওর” evokes remoteness, abundance, and danger.

• বিল (Beel) – Wetland. Folklore portrays beels as mysterious, full of fish and spirits. Beel names mark many places (e.g., Chalan Beel).

• পুকুর (Pukur) – Pond. Symbol of domestic life: marriage songs often speak of the pukur ghat as the site of meetings.

• ঝিল (Jhil) – Shallow waterbody. Common in poetry to evoke quietness and reflection.

Riverine & Delta Landforms

• চর (Char) – River island. Folk stories depict chars as lands of opportunity and loss — fertile but dangerous, appearing and vanishing. Songs of the Padma river often mention “চরের মানুষ” (people of the chars) as resilient yet uprooted.

• কান্ডা (Kanda) – Slightly elevated land. In rural speech: “কান্ডায় ঘর বাঁধো, নইলে ভেসে যাবে” (“Build your home on the kanda, or it will be washed away”).

• তট (Tot) – Riverbank. In bhatiyali, the tot is where lovers part as the boat departs downstream.

Coastal & Estuarine Terms

• মোহনা (Mohona) – Estuary. In poetry, symbol of meeting, mixing, and uncertainty — where sweet and salty water blend.

• খাড়ি (Khari) – Tidal creek. In Sundarbans folk tales, kharis are passages of both tigers and honey gatherers.

• সৈকত (Shoikot) – Beach. Modern folk songs celebrate কক্সবাজার সৈকত as a place of wonder.
  
  

Soils, Sediments & Agricultural Land

• পলি (Poli) – Silt. Farmers bless the monsoon’s gift of poli: “পলিতে ধান, পলিতে জীবন” (“Silt gives rice, silt gives life”).

• লোনা জমি (Lona Jomi) – Saline land. In coastal songs, lowna is tied to hardship and migration, as families lose crops to rising saltwater.

• ধানক্ষেত (Dhan Khet) – Paddy field. Endless subject of folk songs: golden paddy fields as symbols of fertility and love (“সোনার ধানে ভরা মাঠ”).

Waterbodies & Flow

1. Rivier – river, often meandering (e.g., Waal, IJssel).

2. Beek – small stream, usually in higher sandy areas.

3. Spreng – man-made spring brook (Veluwe), dug for watermills.

4. Gracht – canal within a town, often defensive or for transport.

5. Kanaal – large man-made canal for transport, drainage, or water supply.

6. Vaart – navigable canal, often dug for peat transport.

Standing Water & Wetlands

7. Plas – lake or pond, often from peat digging (plassen).

8. Meer – natural or former inland lake (Haarlemmermeer before reclamation).

9. Poel – small natural pond, often seasonal or marshy.

10. Veenplas – shallow lake formed in peatlands after digging peat.

11. Wiel – scour hole left after a dike breach (reminder of flood history).

Riverine & Delta Landforms

12. Polder – reclaimed land surrounded by dikes, drained artificially.

13. Terp – man-made dwelling mound to escape floods, common in Friesland/Groningen.

14. Kwelder – salt marsh land, periodically flooded by the sea, used for grazing.

15. Komgrond – basin clay soil in riverine area, heavy and flood-prone.

16. Oeverwal – natural levee along a river, higher and sandy, often used for settlements.

17. Uiterwaard – floodplain between river and dike, seasonally flooded.

18. Kreek – tidal creek or remnant of an old watercourse in polders.

Soils, Sediments & Agricultural Land

19. Veen – peat soil, important in Dutch history (fuel, subsidence issues).

20. Zavel – loam soil, mix of sand and clay, fertile and valued.

21. Klei – clay soil, especially zeeklei (sea clay) and rivierklei (river clay).

22. Droogmakerij – drained lake reclaimed for agriculture (Beemster, Schiphol).

23. Dijk – dike, essential Dutch landscape element protecting land and polders.

24. Sluis – sluice, water control structure regulating levels and flows.

25. Sloot – ditch for drainage, ubiquitous in Dutch farmland.

Waterbodies & Flow

1. Sông – river.

2. Suối – stream, small watercourse in hills/mountains.

3. Rạch – tidal creek or small distributary, common in Mekong Delta.

4. Kênh – man-made canal, used for irrigation, drainage, and transport.

5. Mương – small irrigation ditch, narrower than kênh.

6. Ngòi – rivulet or brook, often used in northern regions.

Standing Water & Wetlands

7. Ao – pond, usually dug by households, used for aquaculture and water storage.

8. Hồ – lake, natural or man-made.

9. Đầm – lagoon or marsh, shallow water, often brackish.

10. Phá – coastal lagoon, larger and saline/brackish (e.g., Phá Tam Giang in Central Vietnam).

11. Bưng – swamp or wetland, often seasonally flooded (southern usage).

Riverine & Delta Landforms

12. Cồn – river islet/sandbar, often shifting, used for temporary farming.

13. Bãi bồi – newly deposited alluvial land, fertile and contested for agriculture.

14. Bãi sông – floodplain, cultivated in dry season, inundated in wet season.

15. Bờ bãi – riverbank land, often fragile and prone to erosion.

16. Lạch – tidal inlet or small river mouth.

Soils, Sediments & Agricultural Land

17. Phù sa – alluvial soil/silt, life-giving sediment from rivers.

18. Đất phèn – acid sulfate soil, common in Mekong Delta, challenging for farming.

19. Đất mặn – saline soil, linked to sea intrusion.

20. Ruộng – paddy field, tightly tied to irrigation, soil, and flooding.

Waterbodies & Flow

• Awa – River. Central to Māori identity: “Ko au te awa, ko te awa ko au” (“I am the river and the river is me”). In legends, rivers are ancestors; the Whanganui River is legally recognized as a living being.

• Wai – Water, source of life. In traditional karakia (chants), wai is invoked as a cleansing and protective force. Waiora (pure water) symbolizes health; wairua (spirit) carries the same root.

• Waiariki – Hot spring. Stories tell of ancestors using these for healing and communal bathing; still places of gathering today.

• Manga – Stream/creek. Place names beginning with Manga- link to ancestral journeys and resource sites.

• Rere – Waterfall. Often sacred sites, used for ritual purification (tohi ceremonies).

Standing Water & Wetlands

• Roto – Lake. Many lakes have guardian spirits (taniwha) said to protect or test people. Lake Taupō is described in traditions as the heart of the North Island.

• Repo – Swamp/wetland. Valued mahinga kai (food-gathering grounds), especially for tuna (eel) and harakeke (flax) harvest. Songs celebrate repo as places of sustenance.

• Ngāwhā – Warm springs. Associated with healing powers and sometimes feared for their steaming, mysterious qualities.

• Puna – Spring. Often regarded as sacred sources of life. Proverb: “He puna wai, he puna ora” (“A spring of water, a spring of life”).

Coastal & Estuarine Features

• Moana – Ocean. In haka and waiata, moana represents vastness, migration journeys, and the connection back to Polynesian voyaging ancestors.

• Waha – River mouth. Meeting place of river and sea; seen as thresholds of change, often rich in kai (food).

• Whanga – Bay/harbour. In legends, safe havens for ancestral canoes (waka), such as the arrival of the Arawa and Tainui waka.

• Tai – Tide, sea. In proverbs: “E kore e ngaro, he takere waka nui” (“The hull of a great canoe will not be lost”), connecting tides to resilience of voyaging.

• Matāitai – Customary fishing grounds, linked to tribal rights and obligations passed down orally.

Riverine & Landforms

• Ngutuawa – River confluence. Seen as powerful meeting points; some were chosen as settlement sites for their richness.

• Kāinga – Settlement. Often built just above flood levels, demonstrating practical indigenous adaptation. Songs lament abandoned kāinga after floods.

• Paepae – Raised terrace/bank, linked to fortified pā (settlements).

• Papatūānuku – Earth mother, central figure in Māori cosmology. All land is her body; soil and land use are genealogical, not just material.

Soils, Sediments & Agricultural Land

• One – Soil, sand, earth. In chants, oneone (soil) is described as the skin of Papatūānuku. Onepu (sand) figures in place names and stories of shifting coasts.

• Kiripaka – Stony soil, linked in proverbs to resilience and challenge: “Hard as kiripaka.”

• Māra kai – Cultivated garden. Kūmara gardens tied to ancestral knowledge of soil, drainage, and lunar planting cycles; chants guided planting seasons.

• Pārae – Open field or plain, often the stage for gatherings and battles. Songs recall pārae as meeting grounds.

• Horowhenua – Landslides/unstable soils; also a tribal territory name, carrying both ecological and historical weight.