Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

Cairo

[kahy-roh]

Origin

Cairo www.expedia.com Photos, Customer Ratings & Reviews. Save on Trips to Cairo

Book a hotel in Cairo www.tripadvisor.com/HotelReviews Need to book a Hotel in Cairo? Read Hotel Reviews and Book a hotel

Cairo Definition Dictionary.com Find Definitions For Any Word.Get Your Free Dictionary.com Toolbar.

Ads

noun

a city in and the capital of Egypt, in the N part on the E bank of the Nile. 5,517,000.

Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun

Arab Republic of. a republic in NE Africa. 64,791,891; 386,198 sq. mi. (1,000,252 sq. km). Capital: Cairo. Arabic, Misr. Formerly (1958–71), United Arab Republic.

an ancient kingdom in NE Africa: divided into the Nile Delta (Lower Egypt) and the area from Cairo S to the Sudan (Upper Egypt).

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source

Link To Cairo

Collins

World English Dictionary

Cairo (ˈkaɪrəʊ)

—n
	Arabic name: El Qahira the capital of Egypt, on the Nile: the largest city in Africa and in the Middle East; industrial centre; site of the university and mosque of Al Azhar (founded in 972). Pop: 11 146 000 (2005 est)

'Cairene

—n, —*adj*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

Egypt

from Fr. Egypte, from Gk. Aigyptos "the river Nile, Egypt," from Amarna Hikuptah, corresponding to Egypt. Ha(t)-ka-ptah "temple of the soul of Ptah," the creative god associated with Memphis, the ancient city of Egypt. Strictly one of the names of Memphis, it was taken by the Greeks as the name of the

EXPAND

whole country. The Egyptian name, Kemet, means "black country," possibly in ref. to the rich delta soil. The Arabic is Misr, which is derived from Mizraim, the name of a son of Biblical Ham.

Cairo

city in Egypt, named 973 C.E., Arabic al-Kahira "the strong." The Egyptian name was said to be khere-ohe "place of combat," said to be in ref. to a battle between the gods Seth and Horus that took place here.

COLLAPSE

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source

American Heritage

Cultural Dictionary

Egypt definition

Officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, a country in northeastern Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Israel and the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. The principal geographic feature of the country is the Nile River. Its capital and largest city is Cairo. (See also Alexandria.)

Note: Egypt is the site of one of man's earliest civilizations, which flourished from about 3100 b.c. to 30 b.c., when it became part of the Roman Empire. Many ancient works of art and architecture survive, including the pyramids and the Sphinx.

Note: Egypt was the first Arab nation to make peace with Israel (see Arab-Israeli conflict), a feat accomplished after Egyptian President Anwar Sadat traveled to Israel in 1977 to meet Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Sadat was later assassinated by Muslim extremists.

Cairo [(keye-roh)]

The capital of Egypt and largest city in the country; a major port just south of the Nile Delta in the northeast corner of Africa.

Note: Cairo, the historical center of Egyptian power, was the home of the pharaohs. The pyramids and the Sphinx are located nearby in suburban Giza, also known as Al Jizah.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

FOLDOC

Computing Dictionary