America

See also: América, Amèrica, and americà

English

Alternative forms

  • (the United States of America): Merica/ 'Murica/ 'murica (nonstandard, often jocular or representing dialect)
  • (North and South America): Americas

Etymology

From the Latinized Americus form of the Italian forename of Amerigo Vespucci (1454–1512). Amerigo is an Italian name derived from the German name Emmerich. For more, see the Latin entry America and the Wikipedia article on the etymology of America.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /əˈmɛɹɪkə/
  • Rhymes: -ɛɹɪkə

Proper noun

America (plural Americas)

  1. The United States of America.
    • 2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, in The Economist‎, volume 407, number 8837, page 74:
      In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result.
    • 2014 July 27, John Oliver, “Nuclear Weapons”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 1, episode 12, HBO:
      And once gain, America is saved from destruction by the heroes in “MEAL Team Six”.
  2. The Americas.
    • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity (Penguin 2010), page 691:
      Franciscan attitudes in the Canaries offered possible precedents for what Europe now came to call ‘the New World’, or, through a somewhat tangled chain of circumstances, ‘America’.
  3. A female given name..
  4. A town in Limburg, Netherlands.

Usage notes

In English, the unqualified term "America" typically refers to the United States of America, with "American" typically referring to people and things from that country. The sense of "the Americas" is uncommon in contemporary English, but is still found in some specific circumstances, such as in reference to the Organization of American States.

Synonyms

Translations

See also

Italian

Proper noun

America f

  1. (continent) the Americas

Derived terms

Anagrams

Latin

Etymology

Feminine form of Americus, the Latinized form of the forename of Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci (1454–1512).

First recorded in 1507 (together with the related term Amerigen) in the Cosmographiae Introductio, apparently written by Matthias Ringmann, in reference to South America;[1] first applied to both North and South America by Mercator in 1538. Amerigen means "land of Amerigo" and derives from Amerigo and gen, the accusative case of Greek gē "earth". America accorded with the feminine names of Asia, Africa, and Europa.[2]

Amerigo is the Italian form of a Germanic personal name. For more, see the Wikipedia article on the etymology of America.

Proper noun

America f (genitive Americae); first declension

  1. (New Latin) America

Inflection

First declension.

Case Singular
nominative America
genitive Americae
dative Americae
accusative Americam
ablative Americā
vocative America

References

  • America in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016
  1. ↑ John R. Hebert, "The Map That Named America: Library Acquires 1507 Waldseemüller Map of the World" (), Information Bulletin, Library of Congress
  2. ↑ Toby Lester, "Putting America on the Map", Smithsonian, 40:9 (December 2009)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin America.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [aˈme.ri.ka]

Proper noun

America f (plural Americi)

  1. America

Declension

Derived terms

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