# harbor vs port



## vanoula

Is there a difference between the words "harbor" and 'port'?


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## ireney

Yes and no. A harbor is the natural cove or man-made cove (or whatever),  where ships will seek shelter from open sea. The port is the man-made place where you load and unload ships. So a big port may consist of several adjacent harbors all used to load/unload ships, or a harbor may be not be totally converted into a port.
In everyday usage, no, they are used interchangeably, especially when a port is present. 
For a very generic example, in Pireas the main λιμάνι is heavily (if not exclusively) used as a port (cargo ships, cruise ships etc but no recreational yachts) whereas, say, Zea is mainly used as a harbor. That does not mean that the main port of Pireaus is NOT also a naturally formed and later man-developed harbor or that it can't be used as such so you see where the confusion arises.


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## vanoula

ireney said:


> Yes and no. A harbor is the natural cove or man-made cove (or whatever),  where ships will seek shelter from open sea. The port is the man-made place where you load and unload ships. So a big port may consist of several adjacent harbors all used to load/unload ships, or a harbor may be not be totally converted into a port.
> In everyday usage, no, they are used interchangeably, especially when a port is present.
> For a very generic example, in Pireas the main λιμάνι is heavily (if not exclusively) used as a port (cargo ships, cruise ships etc but no recreational yachts) whereas, say, Zea is mainly used as a harbor. That does not mean that the main port of Pireaus is NOT also a naturally formed and later man-developed harbor or that it can't be used as such so you see where the confusion arises.


Thank you very much for your reply!!! Yes I can see your point and why it is so confusing at the same time.


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## διαφορετικός

I guess that "harbor" can always be translated as "όρμος" and vice versa (every harbor is an όρμος and every όρμος is a harbor). Correct?


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## Perseas

διαφορετικός said:


> I guess that "harbor" can always be translated as "όρμος" and vice versa (every harbor is an όρμος and every όρμος is a harbor). Correct?


For "όρμος",  I've also seen "bay".
Apart from that, to me who I am not so familiar with maritime terms, "όρμος" sounds kind of special term and I would probably use for "harbor" a more familiar word to me like "λιμανάκι" or "κολπίσκος".


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## διαφορετικός

Thank you for your comment, Perseas.

Όρμος is a rather frequent word, according to Εθνικός Θησαυρός Ελληνικής Γλώσσας - Στατιστικά .
Yes, it can be translated as "bay". I wanted to know whether "όρμος" is equivalent to "harbor". Which is certainly only the case in the nautical context (harbor has non-nautical meanings, too). Additionally, a harbor need not be a bay, but an όρμος does. Probably a κολπίσκος need not be suitable for ships, as opposed to an όρμος. No objection to "λιμανάκι" ...


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## Perseas

διαφορετικός said:


> I wanted to know whether "όρμος" is equivalent to "harbor".


Yes, it can be, regarding -in my opinion- this meaning:  _body of water where ships and boats seek shelter_.



διαφορετικός said:


> Όρμος is a rather frequent word, according to Εθνικός Θησαυρός Ελληνικής Γλώσσας - Στατιστικά .



Is όρμος  a rather frequent word with 25 results and a frequency 0.0005 ‰ ?



ΛέξηΕμφανίσειςΣυχνότητα1.όρμος250.0005 ‰


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## διαφορετικός

Thanks again, Perseas.



Perseas said:


> Is όρμος a rather frequent word with 25 results and a frequency 0.0005 ‰ ?


A word which has a λήμμα frequency (not λέξη frequency) of more than 0.045 ‰ belongs, approximately, to the 2000 most frequent words (this is my "basic Greek vocabulary"). Όρμος has a lower λήμμα frequency, 0.0037 ‰, but the λήμμα frequency of λιμανάκι is even lower, 0.0009 ‰.



ΛέξηΕμφανίσειςΣυχνότητα1.όρμο810.0017 ‰2.όρμου400.0008 ‰3.όρμος250.0005 ‰4.όρμους200.0004 ‰5.όρμοι100.0002 ‰6.όρμων40.0001 ‰Σύνολο1800.0037 ‰

According to Zipf's law ( Zipf's law - Wikipedia ), I would estimate that όρμος has the rank 2000*0.045/0.0037 = 24324 in the list of the most frequent Greek λήμματα.

I think the "Εθνικός Θησαυρός Ελληνικής Γλώσσας" respects written words only, the word frequency in "everyday language" might be different.


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