What does "sahel" mean?

A region of Africa, between the Sahara to the north and a more humid zone (Sudan) to the south.

What is a synonym for "sahel"?

Common synonyms include: central africa, east africa, north africa, southern africa, west africa.

//səˈhɛl// name

name ·Rare ·Advanced level

Proper Noun

1
A region of Africa, between the Sahara to the north and a more humid zone (Sudan) to the south.
"As Russia’s foothold in Africa expands – notably in the mineral-rich Sahel region that is beset by recurring coups, armed rebellion and extremist insurgency – anti-Western sentiments, partly fueled by Russian propaganda, are engineering the exit of Western troops from swathes of territory."
2
An administrative region of Tunisia, in the central east part of the country.

"Algeria and Morocco are competing for influence in North Africa and the Sahel region."

Borrowed from Arabic سَاحِل (sāḥil, “border of the desert, coastline”).

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