America

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America

/əˈmɛɹɪkə/ British, UK, Southern
/əˈmɛɹɪkə/ Canada, US
/əˈmɛɹəkə/ Canada, US
/əˈmɛɹkə/ Canada, US
/əˈmeɹəkə/ Australia, New Zealand
/əˈmɛɾɪkə/ Scotland, Wales
/əˈmɚ.ɪkə/ nonstandard
/əˈmɚ.əkə/ nonstandard
/əˈmɛɹɪkeɪ/ obsolete
/əˈmɛɹɪkɔː/ obsolete
/əmɛ(ː)ˈrɪkɑː/ Bangladesh, India, Nepal
/əˈme(ː)rɪkɑː/ Bangladesh, India, Nepal
/əmˈɾi(ː)kɑː/ Bangladesh, India, Nepal
/ɐ̃mˈɾi(ː)käː/ Bangladesh, India, Nepal

Rhymes with -ɛɹɪkə

Where it comes from

Learned borrowing from New Latin America, feminine Latinized form of the Italian first name of Amerigo Vespucci (1454–1512). Amerigo is an Italian name derived from a Germanic language and is etymologically related to Henry and Emmerich. The earliest known use of America for the (South) American continent is on a 1507 map by Martin Waldseemüller; see Naming of the Americas for more.

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 Old Welsh Mouric, which could be a rendition of Latin Mauritius (compare Maurice).

proper noun Americas

A supercontinent consisting of North America, Central America and South America regarded as a whole; in full, the Americas. 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 ...
Similar: Americas
A country in North America; in full, United States of America. For a long time the dormouse and polecat had seemed to him overfeeble enemies for his restless valour, even as the granary floor seemed to afford too narrow a field. Every day he read the papers of the previous day in the servants' hall of the houses he visited, and it appeared to him that this war
A female given name.
A town in Limburg, Netherlands.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: united states, usa, us, the americas, american, states, americana, amerika, inter-american, latino, latina, latin, continent, hometown, uses, united

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Cite this

MLA

"America." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/america. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

America. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/america

Chicago

"America." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/america.

BibTeX

@misc{america_2026,
  title = {America},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/america},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}