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[[English]] '''desert''' and its Romance cognates (including Italian and Portuguese deserto, French désert and Spanish desierto) all come from the ecclesiastical [[Latin]] dēsertum (originally "an abandoned place"), a participle of dēserere, "to abandon."  The correlation between [[aridity]] and sparse [[population]] is [[complex]] and [[dynamic]], varying by [[culture]], era, and [[technologies]]; thus the use of the [[word]] desert can cause [[confusion]]. In English prior to the 20th century, desert  was often used in the sense of "unpopulated area", without specific reference to [[aridity]]; but today the word is most often used in its [[climate]]-[[science]] sense (an area of low [[precipitation]])—and a desert may be quite heavily populated, with millions of [[inhabitants]]. Phrases such as "desert island" and "Great American Desert" in previous centuries did not necessarily imply sand or aridity; their [[focus]] was the sparse [[population]]. However, the connotation of a hot, parched, and sandy place often [[influences]] today's popular [[interpretation]] of those phrases.

[[English]] '''desert''' and its Romance cognates (including Italian and Portuguese deserto, French désert and Spanish desierto) all come from the ecclesiastical [[Latin]] dēsertum (originally "an abandoned place"), a participle of dēserere, "to abandon."  The correlation between [[aridity]] and sparse [[population]] is [[complex]] and [[dynamic]], varying by [[culture]], era, and [[technologies]]; thus the use of the [[word]] desert can cause [[confusion]]. In English prior to the 20th century, desert  was often used in the sense of "unpopulated area", without specific reference to [[aridity]]; but today the word is most often used in its [[climate]]-[[science]] sense (an area of low [[precipitation]])—and a desert may be quite heavily populated, with millions of [[inhabitants]]. Phrases such as "desert island" and "Great American Desert" in previous centuries did not necessarily imply sand or aridity; their [[focus]] was the sparse [[population]]. However, the connotation of a hot, parched, and sandy place often [[influences]] today's popular [[interpretation]] of those phrases.

*Date: [http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/13th_Century 13th century]

*Date: [https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/13th_Century 13th century]

==Definitions==

==Definitions==

*1 a : [[arid]] [[land]] with usually sparse [[vegetation]]; especially : such land having a very warm [[climate]] and receiving less than 25 centimeters (10 inches) of sporadic rainfall annually  

*1 a : [[arid]] [[land]] with usually sparse [[vegetation]]; especially : such land having a very warm [[climate]] and receiving less than 25 centimeters (10 inches) of sporadic rainfall annually  

*3 : a desolate or forbidding area <lost in a desert of [[doubt]]>

*3 : a desolate or forbidding area <lost in a desert of [[doubt]]>

==Description==

==Description==

A '''desert''' is a [[landscape]] or region that receives an extremely low amount of [[precipitation]], less than enough to [[support]] [[growth]] of most [[plants]]. Deserts are defined as areas with an [[average]] annual precipitation of less than 250 millimetres (10 in) per year, or as areas where more [[water]] is lost by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evapotranspiration evapotranspiration] than falls as precipitation. In the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%B6ppen_climate_classification Köppen climate classification] system, deserts are classed as BWh (hot desert) or BWk (temperate desert). In the Thornthwaite climate classification system, deserts would be classified as arid [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megathermal megathermal] climates.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert]

A '''desert''' is a [[landscape]] or region that receives an extremely low amount of [[precipitation]], less than enough to [[support]] [[growth]] of most [[plants]]. Deserts are defined as areas with an [[average]] annual precipitation of less than 250 millimetres (10 in) per year, or as areas where more [[water]] is lost by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evapotranspiration evapotranspiration] than falls as precipitation. In the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%B6ppen_climate_classification Köppen climate classification] system, deserts are classed as BWh (hot desert) or BWk (temperate desert). In the Thornthwaite climate classification system, deserts would be classified as arid [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megathermal megathermal] climates.[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert]

[[Category: Earth Science]]

[[Category: Earth Science]]