Nineveh
//ˈnɪnɪvə// name
name ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Proper Noun
- 1 The capital of ancient Assyria, now Mosul, Iraq. historical
- 2 A governorate in Northern Iraq.
Synonyms
All synonymsEtymology
From Old English Niniuea (under influence from Biblical Hebrew נִינְוֵה (nīnəwē)), from Latin Nīnevē, from Ancient Greek Νινευή (Nineuḗ), ultimately from Akkadian 𒌷𒉌𒉡𒀀 𒀏 (/Ninua/) or Old Babylonian 𒌷𒉌𒉡𒀀 (/Ninuwā/) of uncertain origin, but is clearly a variation of 𒀏 (/ninâ/, “fish”). The cuneiform seems to denote "House of Fish", although whether this referred to literal fish, an aspect of Ishtar, a separate Hurrian goddess, or something else entirely is unclear. The traditional folk etymology in classical antiquity derived it from an eponymous founder Ninus (Greek: Νίνος (Nínos)).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.