A glacier is a large, slow-moving river of ice, formed from compacted layers of snow, that slowly deforms and flows in response to gravity and high pressure. The processes and landforms caused by glaciers and related to them are glacial (adjective); this term should not be confounded with glacial (noun), a cold period in ice ages (see glacial period). The process of glacier growth and establishment is called glaciation.

The word glacier comes from French via the Vulgar Latin glacia, and ultimately from Latin glacies meaning ice.

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