The Arctic is literally "bear land" — named for the bear constellation in the sky, not the bears on the ground. Antarctica means "opposite the bear."
Relating to the regions around the North Pole. Also used informally to describe extremely cold conditions.
From Latin arcticus, from Greek arktikos ('of the bear, northern'), from arktos ('bear'). The Arctic is literally 'the land of the bear' — named not for polar bears but for the constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear), which dominates the northern sky. Key roots: *h₂ŕ̥tḱos (Proto-Indo-European: "bear"), arktos (ἄρκτος) (Greek: "bear").
The Arctic is named after bears — but not polar bears. The Greeks named the north after the constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear), which circles the North Star and never sets below the horizon in northern latitudes. "Antarctica" therefore literally means "anti-bear" or "opposite the bear" — the place on the opposite side of the Earth from the bear constellation. The PIE word for bear, *h₂ŕ̥tḱos, is one of the best-preserved words across Indo-European languages: