serac

[prettygoodword]

serac (si-RAK, sey-RAK) - n., a pinnacle or sharp ridge of ice among the crevasses of a glacier.


Formed, more or less, by intersections of crevasses. Named after sérac, a kind of Swizz-French cheese flavored with fenugreek that is usually formed into cones, which the ice pinnacles resemble. The cheese name is via Provençal sera from Latin serum, whey. Here's one from Greenland:


Thanks, Wikimedia!

---L.