Link Centre Dictionary

Melanesia

me·la·ne·sia

UK/ˌmɛl.əˈniː.zi.ə/ US/ˌmɛl.əˈni.ʒə/ uncommon

noun

1.

the islands in the southwestern part of Oceania

Origin

From French Mélanésie (coined by Jules Dumont d'Urville), from Ancient Greek μέλας (mélas, “dark”) + νῆσος (nêsos, “island”), referring to the skin color of the inhabitants.

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.