Suez
//ˈsuː.ɛz// name
name ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Proper Noun
- 1 A city in northeastern Egypt.
- 2 Ellipsis of Suez Canal: the canal connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
- 3 A governorate of Egypt around the city and canal.
Example
More examples"Should the Suez and Panama Canals be internationalized?"
Etymology
From Arabic اَلسُّوَيْس (as-suways), from ال (al-, “the, place of the”) + سويس, of uncertain origin but sometimes connected to South Levantine Arabic forms of سُوس (sūs, “licorice”). A folk etymology sometimes relates it to a supposed Egyptian suan (“beginning”), but this appears to be a ghost word or misinterpretation as no such word exists.
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.