I saw the usage of "shore" with "river" in a modern American book, however my dictionary says that we should use "bank" with "river". Are there any difference between using "shore" and "bank" or maybe it's Americanism?
2
-
3a "bank" is assumed to have a noticeable slant. I think that for a river to have a "shore", the area next to the river would have to be at least a few feet wide, and nearly level; ideally sandy like an ocean beach. Otherwise, it's just a bank. But you could say you were at the "river's edge" in either case.– Brian HitchcockCommented Feb 21, 2015 at 11:34
-
1"Bank" would be the "normal" word to use, but how dreary English would be if one only ever used the "normal" word.– Hot LicksCommented Feb 21, 2015 at 13:18
Add a comment
|
3 Answers
Though it is a term than can be used referring to a river, especially a wide one, bank is the more common between the two ( see NGram below) :
- Generally, only the largest of rivers, which are often estuaries, are said to have shores.
- Rivers and other flowing bodies of water are said to have banks. ( Wiktionary)
- (Physical Geography) the land along the edge of a sea, lake, or wide river.
Bank:
- The slope of land adjoining a body of water, especially adjoining a river, lake, or channel.
Ngram : river bank vs river shore
(TFD)
This may be a regional thing, but in Pittsburgh we have a lot of rivers and it is common to refer to the "shore". In fact, the "North Shore" and "South Shore" are prominent areas/neighborhoods. You can also see the use in things like this Three Rivers Trail description:
The Hazelwood segment instead turns to the Monongahela River, running south along its eastern shore to Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood neighborhood.
Usages like these would not have shown up in Josh61's NGram for "river shore" because the word "river" is implied.
I have never heard of a "rivershore" and it sure sounds awkward to me, so I checked with my trusty American Heritage dictionary 3rd ed. and I find these: riverbank, riverfront, and riverside. Of these, "riverbank" may be most commonly used here -although usually it is not actually referring to the size or slope of the land abutting the river.
