gregale means A strong Mediterranean wind blowing from the north-east.
gregale is pronounced /ɡɹeɪˈɡɑːleɪ/.
Why “gregale” is a great word
A strong northeast wind that blows in the central and western Mediterranean Sea. From Italian grecale, gregale, from Late Latin Graecalis ("Greek"), from Latin Graecus ("Greek") + -alis (adjectival suffix), referring to the wind's origin from the direction of Greece. Unlike the mistral, a biting continental torrent funneled through valleys, or the sirocco, a sultry, dust-choked breath from the desert, the gregale is a cool, maritime exhalation—the wind that churns the Strait of Sicily into slate-gray fury, snaps the canvas of lateen-rigged boats, and drives salt spray against Maltese quays until every stone wears a crystalline rime. It is the steady, geographical sigh of one ancient shore upon another, each gust a reminder that the islands remain, always, downwind of somewhere else.
Etymology
From Italian grecale, apparently representing a late Latin noun from Graecus (“Greek”).
noun
- A strong Mediterranean wind blowing from the north-east.e.g.“The dog days have ended, the maijstral has ceased to blow. Soon the other wind called gregale will bring the gentle rains to solemnize the sowing of our red wheat.” — 1963, Thomas Pynchon, V.:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- ostro 68% match — A southerly Mediterranean wind. vs gregale →
- mistral 66% match — A strong cold north-west wind in southern France and the Mediterranean. vs gregale →
- tramontana 64% match — A dry, cold north wind in Italy and adjacent Mediterranean areas. vs gregale →
- etesian 64% match — Pertaining to a dry north wind which blows in the eastern Mediterranean. vs gregale →
- meltemi 63% match — A strong, dry, northerly, seasonal wind in the Aegean sea; etesian wind. vs gregale →
- vendaval 63% match — A westerly wind, especially one that blows into the Mediterranean Sea around the area of the Straits of Gibraltar and Morocco, or a similar wind in the Philippines. vs gregale →
- ponente 63% match — A westerly Mediterranean wind vs gregale →
- libeccio 62% match — A southwest wind. vs gregale →