From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary EnglishArcticArc‧tic, arctic /ˈɑːktɪk $ ˈɑːrk-/ adjective [only before noun] 1 SGrelating to the most northern part of the world → Antarctic the Arctic island of Novaya Zemlya2 COLDextremely cold arctic conditions► see thesaurus at coldOrigin arctic (1300-1400) Latin arcticus, from Greek, from arktos “bear, Ursa Major (= bear-shaped group of stars in the northern sky), north”
