Eisscholle

Meaning (English):
An Eisscholle is an ice floe—a flat piece of floating ice, typically broken off from sea ice (or sometimes from river/lake ice). It drifts on the water and can vary greatly in size.

Parts (word formation)

• Eis = ice
• Scholle = clod/lump; in this context “slab” or “piece”
  Together: a slab/piece of ice.

Notes on usage / meanings

• Most commonly used for floating sea ice in polar regions: eine Eisscholle treibt im Meer (“an ice floe drifts in the sea”).
• It can also be used more generally for a large, flat piece of ice floating on water.

German synonyms

• Eisplatte (ice slab/plate; more general)
• Eisfeld (ice field; usually larger than a single floe)
• Treibeis (drift ice; more of a collective term)
• Packeis (pack ice; ice floes pressed together)

German antonyms (if applicable)

There isn’t a strict single-word antonym, but contrasting terms include:

• offenes Wasser (open water)
• eisfreies Wasser / eisfrei (ice-free water / ice-free)
• Wasserfläche (water surface, without ice implied by context)