Meaning: fog

Illustrative Context

I couldn't see the village because of the fog.

Target Sense

• The most generic term for the equivalent of cloud, but at ground-level, and dense enough that it cannot be seen through. Contrast with the meaning definition for the separate IE-CoR meaning cloud.
• If, like English, a language distinguishes denser fog (that cannot be seen through at all) from thinner mist (that does nonetheless allow even large but distant shapes to be made out), then select the term for denser fog.
• Natural fog, not necessarily caused by pollution: avoid words specific to that sense, e.g. smog.
• In many languages, like English, the same generic term may be applicable both to fog on land and to ‘fog’ banks out at sea, or rolling onshore from the sea. Do not, however, select a lexeme that uniquely or predominantly refers to sea fog.
• In some languages there may not be a basic word specifically for (ground) fog, especially in regions where fog is very rare, or in mountainous regions where the distinction between cloud and fog can seem less rigid. In such cases, provide the basic term that speakers would nonetheless use to describe fog if encountered elsewhere. If such a description would be a compound or paraphrase, then select the lexeme within it bearing the most specific meaning closest to fog, e.g. the lexeme for cloud in an expression such as ground cloud. In this case, the term selected may be the same as for the separate IE-CoR meaning cloud.