n.
Pronunciation: el- ' n ē -ny ō
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural El Niños
Etymology: Spanish, literally, the child (i.e., the Christ child); from the appearance of the flow at the Christmas season
Date: 1896
: an irregularly recurring flow of unusually warm surface waters from the Pacific Ocean toward and along the western coast of South America that prevents upwelling of nutrient-rich cold deep water and that disrupts typical regional and global weather patterns ― compare LA NIñA