ISLET

An 'islet' is a small island. It is not to be confused with ''eyelet''.
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Contents

Definition of Types

Rock

Sandbar

Size

Islet of Langerhans

Synonymous Terms

Definition of Types

Rock

A "rock", sometimes a synonym for a type of "islet", is a landform composed of rock, lying offshore, having no or minimal vegetation, and uninhabited (see Mōkōlea Rock at right).

Sandbar

An exposed sandbar is another type of islet. A more technical application is to small land features, isolated by water, lying off the shore of a larger island. And in related fashion, any emergent land on an atoll (a type of island) is also called an islet.

Size

As with many of these terms, the actual size limits of islets are subjective, and vary.

Islet of Langerhans

Islets of Langerhans are the groups of endocrine cells in the pancreas responsible, among other things, for secreting insulin.

Synonymous Terms

★ Islets are often called 'cays' or 'keys' in the Caribbean and West Atlantic. Rum Cay in the Bahamas and the Florida Keys off Florida are examples of islets.

★ In Scotland and Ireland, they are often called 'inches', from the Gaelic ''innis'', which originally meant island, but has been supplanted to refer to smaller islands. In Ireland they are often termed 'skerries'.

★ In the Channel Islands, they are often identified by the suffix ''-hou'' from the Norse ''-holmr''.

★ ''Holm'' or ''Holmen'' is a common suffix too in Nordic and northern European lands ("holme" means "islet" in Norwegian).