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Laurentia

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Laurentia

  • /lɑˈɹɛn.ʃə/ US
  • /lɑˈɹɛn.ʃi.ə/ US
  • /lɑˈɹɪn.ʃə/ pin pen merger
  • /lɑˈɹɪn.ʃi.ə/ pin pen merger
  • /lɒˈɹɛn.ʃə/ UK
  • /lɒˈɹɛn.ʃi.ə/ UK

Where it comes from

A New Latin formation named after the Saint Lawrence River: Laurentius (“Lawrence”) + -ia (New Latin suffix for creating place names). Or, back-formed from Laurentian (from French laurentien), already in use to describe the Laurentian Mountains and their associated geologic complex (and by extension Canada as a whole).

proper noun

  1. The craton that forms the geological core of North America, and that was a separate continent in the past (before merging into Laurasia). Laurentia includes most of North America, Scotland and Ireland north of the Caledonian suture, Greenland, Spitzbergen, and the Chukotsk peninsula of eastern Siberia.
  2. nonstandard Canada.

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Cite this
MLA

"Laurentia." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/laurentia. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX
@misc{laurentia_2026,
  title = {Laurentia},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/laurentia},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}