What does "harlem" mean?

A neighborhood in northern Manhattan, New York County, New York City, New York State, United States, currently known for its black population and the culture thereof.

What is a synonym for "harlem"?

Common synonyms include: forest park.

How do you pronounce "harlem"?

Pronounced //ˈhɑː(ɹ)ləm//.

Harlem

Q: How do you use "harlem" in a sentence?

“Sylvia's in Harlem does not invent what is sometimes called down-home food or soul food, but it exemplifies that kind of cuisine and is also an example of the story of African American migration from the South to the North,” Freedman says.

//ˈhɑː(ɹ)ləm// name

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Definitions

Proper Noun

1
A neighborhood in northern Manhattan, New York County, New York City, New York State, United States, currently known for its black population and the culture thereof.
"Holonyms: Manhattan < New York < New York < United States < North America < Earth, World"
2
Obsolete form of Haarlem: a city in Randstad, North Holland, Netherlands. alt-of, obsolete

Synonyms

All synonyms

forest park

Example

More examples

"“Sylvia's in Harlem does not invent what is sometimes called down-home food or soul food, but it exemplifies that kind of cuisine and is also an example of the story of African American migration from the South to the North,” Freedman says."

Etymology

(New York City): From Dutch Nieuw Haarlem (“new Haarlem”), the original name of the area under the Dutch control, after Haarlem, a city in the Netherlands.

Related phrases

Harlem Renaissance harlem renaissance

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.