echolocation

US/ˌɛkoʊloʊˈkeɪʃən/

nounC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,900 of 15,258leans written

Echolocation is finding objects by listening to the echo of your own sound. Hunt by echolocation.

Bats and dolphins use it, and so do a small number of blind people who click as they walk. Echolocation gives distance and size and even texture, which is more than it sounds like it could.

Definitions of echolocation

1nounecholocationFinding objects by listening to the echo of your own sound.C2
“The bat found a moth by echolocation in complete darkness.”

echolocation is a method.

Where it comes from

Echo plus location, coined in 1944 by the zoologist Donald Griffin, who proved bats were doing it.

Middle English
eccho
English
echo
English, today
echolocation

Built from

ἠχή · Ancient Greek — sound

coined by Q327908 in 1944, from echo- + location. echo comes from Middle English eccho. From Middle English eccho, ecco, echo, ekko, from Medieval Latin ēccō, from Latin ēchō, from Ancient Greek ἠχώ, from ἠχή (“sound”). Possibly from the same Proto-Indo-European - root as sough.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

echolocation in the wild

However, they navigate by echolocation in the same way as bats, one of the few birds to do so.
Oilbird
What distinguishes Aerodramus swiftlets from other swifts, and indeed almost all other birds, is their ability to use a simple but effective form of echolocation.
Aerodramus
People trained to orient by echolocation can interpret the sound waves reflected by nearby objects, accurately identifying their location, size and density.
Human echolocation
The nose-leafs aid in echolocation; horseshoe bats have highly sophisticated echolocation, using constant frequency calls at high-duty cycles to detect prey in areas of high environmental clutters.
Horseshoe bat
Examples include echolocation of bats and dolphins and insect antennae.
Active sensory systems

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

echo

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