Zion
//ˈzaɪ.ən// name, noun
name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 zayin, Hebrew letter ז.
- 2 an imaginary place considered to be perfect or ideal wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 A hill in Jerusalem, Israel, on which ancient Jerusalem was partly built; a centrepiece to Biblical accounts of old days and future eschatological events.
"Neuertheleſſe, Dauid tooke the ſtrong hold of Zion: the ſame is the citie of Dauid."
- 2 Jerusalem city proper; or more strictly speaking, the Temple Mount. poetic
- 3 The whole nation of Israel. broadly
- 4 A male given name from Hebrew.
- 5 A female given name.
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 An association of the righteous. Mormonism
- 7 A city and township in Lake County, Illinois, United States.
Example
More examples"From these verses, we can see the different description of the same entity: the city, the kingdom, the heavenly Jerusalem, the church, and Mount Zion."
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English Sion, from Old English Syon, from Ecclesiastical Latin Sīōn, from Koine Greek Σῑών (Sīṓn), from Biblical Hebrew צִיּוֹן (ṣiyyôn). Initial Z- was likely under influence from Early New High German Zion, itself influenced by the Ashkenazi pronunciation /t͡s/.
Etymology 2
From Hebrew ז.
Related phrases
More for "zion"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.