Islet

Islet

:"For human anatomy, see Islets of Langerhans"

An islet is a small island.

Types

As suggested by its origin as "islette", an Old French diminutive of "isle", ["Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language, Second Edition", 1958] use of the term implies small size, but little attention is given to drawing an upper limit on its applicability.

Rock:
A "rock", in the sense of a type of islet, is a landform composed of rock, lying offshore, uninhabited, and having at most minimal vegetation.

Sandbar:
An exposed sandbar is another type of islet.

Subsidiary islets:
A more technical application is to small land features, isolated by water, lying off the shore of a larger island. Likewise, any emergent land in an atoll is also called an islet.

ynonymous terms

* Islets are often called cays or keys in the Caribbean and West Atlantic. Rum Cay in the Bahamas and the Florida Keys off Florida are examples of islets.

* In Scotland and Ireland, they are often called inches, from the Gaelic "innis", which originally meant island, but has been supplanted to refer to smaller islands. In Ireland they are often termed skerries.

* In the Channel Islands, they are often identified by the suffix "-hou" from the Norse "-holmr".

* "Holm" or "Holmen" is a common suffix too in Nordic and northern European lands ("holme" means "islet" in Swedish and Norwegian).

List of islets

* Abagaitu Islet, China, in the Amur River, ceded by Russia
* Águila Islet, the southernmost point of The Americas
* Anton Rock, in Buck Lake, Ontario
* Aplin Islet (Queensland)
* Bay Islet or See Chau, Hong Kong
* Boundary Islet, Australia
* Briggs Islet, southeastern Australia
* Bushy Islet (Queensland)
* Islets of Caroline Island, in Kiribati
* Chão, in the Madeira Islands, Portugal
* Cholmondeley Islet (Queensland)
* Cone Islet, southeastern Australia
* Dokdo, between Korea and Japan
* Douglas Islet (Queensland)
* Dugay Islet, southeastern Australia
* Edwards Islet, southeastern Australia
* Filfla, southern Malta
* Halfway Islet (Queensland)
* Imia/Kardak, between Greece and Turkey
* Jardine Islet (Queensland)
* Keelung Islet, off the northern shore of Taiwan
* Magra Islet (Queensland)
* Martin Islet (New South Wales)
* Islets of Mauritius
* Mid Woody Islet, southeastern Australia
* Milman Islet (Queensland)
* Monchique Islet, Europe's westernmost point, in the Azores, Portugal
* Penguin Islet (Tasmania)
* Rockall
* Saunders Islet (Queensland)
* Seacrow Islet, southeastern Australia
* Sinclair Islet (Queensland)
* Skull Islet, in British Columbia, Canada
* Silver Islet, Ontario
* Star Keys/Motuhope, New Zealand
* Sue Islet (Queensland)
* Sunday Islet (Queensland)
* Thomson Islet (Queensland)
* Wallace Islet (Queensland)
* Westward Islet, in the Pitcairn Islands

References


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Islet — Is let, n. [OF. islette (cf. F. [^i]lot), dim. of isle.] A little island. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • islet — 1530s, from M.Fr. islette (Mod.Fr. îlette), dim. of isle (see ISLE (Cf. isle)) …   Etymology dictionary

  • islet — ► NOUN ▪ a small island …   English terms dictionary

  • islet — [ī′lit] n. [OFr, dim. of isle, ISLE] a very small island …   English World dictionary

  • Islet — L Islet Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. L Islet peut désigner : Au Canada L Islet, une MRC canadienne dans la région administrative de Chaudière Appalaches au Québec ; L Islet …   Wikipédia en Français

  • islet — isleted, adj. /uy lit/, n. 1. a very small island. adj. 2. Anat. situated in or pertaining to the islet of Langerhans: islet cells. [1530 40; < MF islette. See ISLE, ET] * * * …   Universalium

  • islet — UK [ˈaɪlət] / US noun [countable] Word forms islet : singular islet plural islets a small island …   English dictionary

  • islet — noun Date: 1538 1. a little island 2. islet of Langerhans …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • islet — A small island. blood i. SYN: blood island. islets of Langerhans cellular masses varying from a few to hundreds of cells lying in the interstitial tissue of the pancreas; they are composed of different cell types that comprise the endocrine …   Medical dictionary

  • islet — [[t]a͟ɪlət[/t]] islets N COUNT An islet is a small island. [LITERARY] …   English dictionary

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