Wadi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the town in Karnataka, India, see Wadi (Gulbarga).

For the town in Maharashtra, India, see Wadi (Maharashtra).

For the Australian Aboriginal war club, see Waddy.

Wadi al'Mujib, Jordan

A wadi (Arabic: وادي‎ wādī) is a dry riverbed that contains water only during times of heavy rain. In some instances, a Wadi is also a rare breed of the bird family. Compare arroyo (creek), canyon, and gully.

The term wādī is very widely found in Arabic toponyms. Wadis tend to be associated with centers of human population because sub-surface water is sometimes available in wadis.

Crossing wide wadis at certain times of the year can be dangerous, because of unexpected flash floods. Such flash floods cause many deaths each year in Saudi Arabia and many other Middle Eastern countries.

In North Africa the French transcription oued is often used, although it is also employed to refer to true rivers. In southwestern West Africa, the term rivière is used, which is the French word for "river".

Some names of Spanish rivers are derived from Andalusi Arabic toponyms where wādī was used to mean a permanent river, for example Guadalquivir from al-wādī al-kabīr = "the great river".