Euphrates
name ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A river in West Asia, 2780 kilometers in length, flowing southwest from Turkey, then southeast, and uniting with the Tigris before entering the Persian Gulf. It forms the Western edge of classical Mesopotamia.
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"How many countries does the Euphrates river cross?"
Etymology
From Latin Euphrātēs, from Ancient Greek Εὐφράτης (Euphrátēs), from Old Persian 𐎢𐎳𐎼𐎠𐎬𐎢 (u-f-r-a-tu-u /ʰUfrātuš/), from Akkadian 𒀀𒇉𒌓𒄒𒉣 (^(ÍD)Purattu), from Sumerian 𒀀𒇉𒌓𒄒𒉣 (^(ÍD)Buranun) (compare Elamite 𒌑𒅁𒊏𒌅𒅖 (ú-ip-ra-du-iš), Classical Syriac ܦܪܬ (P(ə)rāṯ)). The Elamite, Akkadian, and possibly Sumerian forms are either from an unrecorded substrate language, or from Proto-Sumerian *𒁍𒍏 burudu "copper" (Sumerian 𒍏 (urudu)) with an explanation that Euphrates was the river by which the copper ore was transported in rafts, since Mesopotamia was the center of copper metallurgy at the period.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.