culminas

Culminas is a term used in Spanish to refer to the highest points of geographic forms such as mountains, hills, or plateaus. In geography, culminas are the peaks or summits that mark the apex of a feature, and they are commonly distinguished in topographic surveys, hiking guides, and cartographic descriptions. The more common words for these points are cima or cumbre; culminas is used less frequently but appears in some regional or technical contexts to emphasize the apex or final point of a formation.

Origin and usage: Culminas derives from culminar, to culminate, which itself comes from Latin culminare, from culmina meaning summit or end. In Spanish, culminación is the standard noun for culmination, and culminaciones for the plural; culminas as a noun is rare and often interpreted as a verb form (tú culminas) rather than a noun.

Usage: In scientific writing, culminas may appear when describing mountain ranges as a set of culminas that stand above surrounding terrain. In toponymy and local descriptions, culmina may appear in phrases such as "la culmina de la sierra" though many prefer "la cumbre" o "la cima".

Figurative use: The term can also be used in a figurative sense to describe the culmination or peak of a process, event, or era, though in Spanish this sense more commonly employs culminación or cúspide.

See also: Cima, Cumbre, Pico, Culminación, Geografía física.