Okhotsk

American  

[oh-kotsk, uh-khawtsk] / oʊˈkɒtsk, ʌˈxɔtsk /

noun

1. Sea of Okhotsk, an arm of the North Pacific Ocean enclosed by the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Kurile Islands, Sakhalin, and the Russian Federation in Asia. 582,000 square miles (1,507,380 square kilometers); greatest depth, 10,554 feet (3,217 meters).

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Okhotsk British  

/ aˈɔxtsk, ˈəʊkɒtsk /

noun

1. part of the NW Pacific, surrounded by the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Kurile Islands, Sakhalin Island, and the E coast of Siberia. Area: 1 589 840 sq km (613 838 sq miles)

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Etymology

Origin of Okhotsk

First recorded in 1815–20; from Russian Okhótsk, equivalent to Okhot(a) the name of a river, probably from Evenki (Lamut) okat “river” + -sk, Russian noun suffix used in placenames

Example Sentences

Last year, Russian Mikhail Pichugin was rescued after spending more than two months adrift in a small inflatable boat in the Sea of Okhotsk, to the east of Russia.

From BBC • Mar. 16, 2025

It detected one Russian information-gathering aircraft IL-20 flying round-trip from the Sea of Okhotsk to the Pacific and another IL-20 flying toward the waters near Sado Island before turning toward the continent, the ministry said.

From Reuters • May 25, 2023

Some places actually saw algal blooms weaken over time, including the California Current, parts of the northeastern North Atlantic and the Okhotsk Sea in the North Pacific.

From Scientific American • Mar. 2, 2023

Dozens of Indigenous knowledge keepers, leaders and fishers from around the Salish Sea, Southeast Alaska and the Sea of Okhotsk gathered at the zoo over the weekend.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 31, 2022

Navy divers, or "frogmen," used a mini-submarine to place a "pod" on an important Soviet underwater communications cable in the Sea of Okhotsk, north of Japan and near the eastern coast of the Soviet Union.

From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau