Climate Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

　　If you stand at the equator and look up at the sky, the celestial pole (the point in the sky directly above earth's North and South Poles) lies on the horizon. As you move northward, the celestial pole gradually rises above the horizon, so that the sky is in effect tilted. This tilt or inclination was called by the ancient Greeks (literally, "slope," "inclination"). Because the angle of inclination is determined by your latitude on earth, came to mean "latitude," and the earth was divided into seven latitudinal regions, called (the plural of ). This word was borrowed into modern European languages as or , and the weather characteristic of a particular region was also called .