Algeria
al·ge·ria
noun
a republic in northwestern Africa on the Mediterranean Sea with a population that is predominantly Sunni Muslim; colonized by France in the 19th century but gained autonomy in the early 1960s
Origin
From Alger + -ia, modified based on French Algérie, from the French Alger (“Algiers”) + -ie, from Algerian Arabic الدزَاير (ed-dzayer), from Arabic اَلْجَزَائِر (al-jazāʔir, “the islands”) (with elision of the first vowel), plural of جَزِيرَة (jazīra, “island”), referring to the several small islands that once existed in the Bay of Algiers.
Phrases
- French Algeria
Related words
Broader terms
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.