n.
Pronunciation: lä- ' n ē -ny ə , -nyä
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural La Niñas
Etymology: Spanish, the (female) child
Date: 1988
: an irregularly recurring upwelling of unusually cold water to the ocean surface along the western coast of South America that often occurs following an El Niño and that disrupts typical regional and global weather patterns especially in a manner opposite to that of El Niño