The Tip of the Iceberg Is About a Tenth of It
An iceberg is a mass of freshwater ice floating in the sea. Roughly nine tenths of it sits below the surface, which is why the phrase means what it does.
An iceberg is a chunk of freshwater ice that has broken off a glacier or ice shelf and floats out to sea. Ice is only slightly less dense than seawater, so about ninety per cent of any iceberg is underwater. *The tip of the iceberg* is not an exaggeration; it is a measurement.
- A floating mass of ice. *An iceberg the size of a city.*
- Tip of the iceberg — a small visible part of a large problem. *The complaints are the tip of the iceberg.*
- Iceberg lettuce — a crisp pale variety. *A wedge of iceberg.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | iceberg | A drifting iceberg. |
| Plural | icebergs | Icebergs off Newfoundland. |
| Related | calving | Calving from the glacier. |
| Related | growler | A small growler. |
| Related | floe | An ice floe. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The ship altered course to avoid the iceberg.Radar and patrols now track them.
- These figures are the tip of the iceberg.The metaphor, always about hidden scale.
- Icebergs calve from the Greenland ice sheet each summer.Calving is the technical verb.
Ice at sea, by size
- Iceberg — over about five metres above water
- Bergy bit — smaller, roughly the size of a house
- Growler — smaller still, and hard to see on radar
- Ice floe — flat sea ice, frozen from seawater
- Ice shelf — floating ice attached to land, where many bergs begin
From Dutch *ijsberg*, ice mountain — a sailors' borrowing, like so much English sea vocabulary. The word entered English in the eighteenth century.
How much of an iceberg is underwater?
About nine tenths. Ice is roughly ten per cent less dense than seawater, so only a tenth rides above the surface.
Is an iceberg made of salt water?
No. Icebergs break off glaciers, which are compressed snow, so the ice is fresh. Sea ice is a different thing entirely.