Polar

How to spell polar

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce polar

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does polar mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to the North or South Pole, the regions around them, or things diametrically opposed.
2. adjectiveDescribing a molecule or bond with an uneven distribution of electric charge.

Polar in a sentence

• The documentary followed a polar bear across the melting sea ice.

• Water is a polar molecule, which is why it dissolves salt so readily.

• Researchers measured the shrinking of the polar ice caps over thirty years.

• The textbook explained why polar compounds mix poorly with oils.

Where does polar come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin polaris, meaning 'of or relating to a pole', which was built on the noun polus, 'the end of an axis' or 'the pivot of the sky'. The Latin polus was itself borrowed from the Greek polos, which literally meant a pivot, hinge, or turning point, the fixed spot around which something rotates. English picked the word up around the early 1500s, first in astronomy and navigation to describe the points at the top and bottom of the Earth's axis, the North and South Poles, around which the planet seems to turn. From that geographical sense it broadened to mean anything connected with those frozen regions, such as polar bears and polar ice, and later it took on a figurative use for things that are diametrically opposed, as in 'polar opposites'. The same Greek root for a pivot also lies behind 'pole' itself, which is a useful memory hook, since polar is simply pole with the familiar -ar ending rather than the trickier -er.

How the word is built

• pol- (from Latin polus: pole, end of an axis)
• -ar (adjective suffix meaning 'relating to')