ball lightning

English

Etymology

A calque of German Kugelblitz.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

ball lightning (usually uncountable, plural ball lightnings)

2. A short-lived glowing ball sometimes observed to float in the air and thought to consist of ionized gas associated with thunderstorms.

   Synonyms: globe lightning, globular lightning

Translations

a short-lived, glowing ball sometimes observed to float in the air

• Bulgarian: кълбовидна мълния f (kălbovidna mălnija)
• Cahuilla: taqwish
• Catalan: llamp en bola m, llamp globular m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 球狀閃電 / 球状闪电 (zh) (qiúzhuàng shǎndiàn), 球雷 (qiúléi)

• Czech: kulový blesk (cs) m
• Danish: kuglelyn
• Dena'ina: el'ekna daz'a
• Dutch: bolbliksem (nl)
• Esperanto: globa fulmo
• Estonian: keravälk
• Finnish: pallosalama (fi)
• French: foudre en boule f
• German: Kugelblitz (de) m
• Hebrew: כדור ברק m
• Hungarian: gömbvillám (hu)
• Icelandic: urðarmáni m
• Ingrian: tulikerä
• Irish: caorthintreach f
• Italian: fulmine globulare m
• Japanese: 球電 (ja) (きゅうでん, kyūden)
• Kazakh: жұмбақ найзағай (jumbaq nayzağay)
• Korean: 구상번개 (gusangbeon'gae)
• Lithuanian: kamuolinis žaibas
• Macedonian: топчеста молња f (topčesta molnja)
• Norwegian: kulelyn
• Polish: piorun kulisty m
• Portuguese: raio globular m
• Romanian: fulger globular (ro) n
• Russian: шарова́я мо́лния (ru) f (šarovája mólnija)
• Slovak: guľový blesk m
• Slovene: kroglasta strela f
• Spanish: rayo globular m
• Swedish: klotblixt (sv) c, kulblixt (sv)
• Turkish: yıldırım topu
• Ukrainian: кульова блискавка f (kulʹova blyskavka)
• Vietnamese: sét hòn
• Welsh: pelen fellt f

Further reading

• ball lightning on Wikipedia.Wikipedia