Kozhikode

name

name ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A city in Kerala, in southwestern India.
  2. 2
    A district of Kerala, India.

Etymology

From Malayalam കോഴിക്കോട് (kōḻikkōṭŭ). The name probably corresponds to Ancient Greek Καλαικαρίας (Kalaikarías), mentioned by Ptolemy, of uncertain meaning. The second element is likely Sanskrit कोट (koṭa, “fortress, palace”). The first element could be from Kali, wife of Shiva, meaning "palace of Kali," or it could instead be a Dravidian name கல்லியை (kalliyai). The anglicized variant of the name is Calicut.

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