English Explanatory Dictionary

Asia

English dictionary entry

Meanings

name
  1. The largest continent, located east of Europe (typically delimited by the Urals), west of the Pacific Ocean, north of Oceania and south of the Arctic Ocean.
  2. A daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, the wife of the Titan Iapetus, and mother of Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus and Menoetius.
  3. An epithet of Athena.
  4. One of the Nereids.
  5. 67 Asia, a main belt asteroid.
  6. A female given name transferred from the place name, of modern usage.
  7. An ancient province of the Roman Empire in western Anatolia, existing between 133 BC (during the Roman Republic) and the 7th century AD.

Pronunciation

/ˈeɪ.ʒə/ /ˈeɪ.ʃə/ /ˈeː.ʃja/ /ˈeɪ.ʃja/ en-us-Asia.ogg LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-Asia.wav

Word forms

Asia Asias

Etymology

From Middle English Asia, Asie, from Old French Asie and Latin Asia, from Ancient Greek Ᾰ̓σῐ́ᾱ (Ăsĭ́ā), from Mycenaean Greek 𐀀𐀯𐀹𐀊 (a-si-wi-ja /⁠aswijaː⁠/), in turn probably from Hittite 𒀸𒋗𒉿 (aš-šu-wa /⁠Aššuwa⁠/, “northwest Anatolia”) of uncertain origin. Potentially from an Aegean language family substrate or Akkadian. Possibly a doublet of Assuwa.

Synonyms

Asia Major Roman Asia Phrygia

Derived words

Asia Major Asia Minor Asian Asiaphile Asiaphilia Asiaphobia Asiaphobic Asiatic Asia-wide Australasia Central Asia East Asia Eurasia Lesser Asia Mall of Asia Monsoon Asia Northeast Asia South Asia Southeast Asia Southwestern Asia West Asia
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