What does aquatic mean?
Word: Aquatic
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Aquatic means living or growing in water, or happening in water, like swimming and diving.
How do you spell aquatic?
Syllables: a - quat - ic
Tricky part: Students add a c by thinking of acquire and acquaint, but aquatic has no c before the q.
Watch out for: acquatic, aquatik, acquatik
Memory tip: Aqua means water, and aquatic starts with plain aqua; aquarium is another water word with no c before the q.
Aquatic in a sentence
Example 1: Water lilies and lotuses are aquatic plants.
Example 2: The swimming pool at the new aquatic centre is fifty metres long.
Example 3: Frogs start life as aquatic tadpoles before they can live on land.
Fun Fact
The lotus is an aquatic plant whose leaves shed water because of a waxy surface.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word aquatic as used in the sentence:
Hydrilla is an aquatic plant that grows in many village ponds.
a) terrestrial
b) marine
c) underwater
d) submerged
Show answer
a) terrestrial. Terrestrial comes from the Latin terra, earth, so it describes plants and animals of the land, not of the pond.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
aquattic
a) a
b) c
c) t
d) u
Show answer
c) t. Aquatic has a single t, just as the -tic ending of fantastic does.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
The museum's new qtiauac gallery has a glass tunnel full of fish.
a) attic
b) acoustic
c) antique
d) aquatic
Show answer
d) aquatic. Only aquatic uses the q, the u, two a's and the t, with nothing left over.
Spell-o-Spell
Only one of these words is spelt correctly. Choose its meaning:
1. marrine 2. aquatic 3. coastel 4. amfibian
a) to do with the sea and the creatures in it
b) on or near the shore of the sea
c) belonging to or taking place in water
d) an animal that can live both on land and in water
Show answer
c) belonging to or taking place in water. Amphibian spells its f sound ph, marine has one r and coastal ends -al, so aquatic is the correct word.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these animals is fully aquatic?
a) a crocodile
b) a dolphin
c) a duck
d) a frog
Show answer
b) a dolphin
2. Aquatic sports at the Asian Games would include ____.
a) wrestling and judo
b) hockey and squash
c) diving and water polo
d) archery and fencing
Show answer
c) diving and water polo
