Nubia
name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A light, knitted headscarf worn by women.
- 1 The region of the upper Nile valley now part of Sudan and far-southern Egypt.
- 2 The former polity ruling that region. broadly
"Except date trees, and a few grape vines which I saw at Derr, there are no fruit-trees in Nubia. The climate of Nubia, though intensely hot in summer, particularly in the narrow rocky parts of the country, is very healthy, owing perhaps to the extreme aridity of the atmosphere."
Example
More examples"Except date trees, and a few grape vines which I saw at Derr, there are no fruit-trees in Nubia. The climate of Nubia, though intensely hot in summer, particularly in the narrow rocky parts of the country, is very healthy, owing perhaps to the extreme aridity of the atmosphere."
Etymology
The origin of this word is contested. At root it is probably a geographical rather than an ethnic designation. (See Nubians ยง Etymology on Wikipedia.Wikipedia). The related term Noba was used (with some uncertainty even among the writers as to its meaning) both for a people already living in the area and for those who conquered it in the 4th century CE.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.