America
Etymology

Although this is the most widely accepted derivation, it has also been suggested that it could originate from the name of the Amerrisque mountains in Nicaragua (from Mayan -), and another disputed theory is that it derives from the surname of Richard Amerike (1440–1503), whose surname is an anglicised form of Welsh ap Meurig ("son of Meurig"), from owl Mouric, which could be a rendition of Latin Mauritius (compare Maurice).

Pronunciation
  • IPA: /əˈmɛɹ.ɪ.kə/
  • (weak vowel) IPA: /əˈmɛɹ.ə.kə/, /əˈmɛɹ.kə/
  • (nonstandard) IPA: /əˈmɚ.ɪ.kə/, /əˈmɚ.ə.kə/
  • (obsolete) IPA: /əˈmɛɹ.ɪ.keɪ/, /əˈmɛɹ.ɪ.kɔː/
Proper noun
  1. The Americas.
    • 1847, Joseph Dalton Hooker, On the Vegetation of the Galapagos Archipelago, as compared with that of some other Tropical Islands and of the Continent of America, →DOI ↗, pages 235–262:
      The results of my examination ... for the most part allied to plants of the cooler part of America, or the uplands of the tropical latitudes ...
  2. A female given name.
  3. A town in Limburg, Netherlands.
  4. The United States of America.
    • 2022 April 3, Roisin Conaty & al., Big Fat Quiz of Everything, Channel 4:
      Captain America, how did he get his powers?
      I think he... he got bitten by America.
Synonyms
  • (North and South America) Americas
  • (United States of America) see United States of America#Synonyms



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