Tuvalu

//ˌtuːvəˈluː// name

name ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A country and archipelago of Polynesia in Oceania. Capital and largest city: Funafuti.

    "Tuvalu, a string of islands northwest of Australia, sold the rights to its suffix, “.tv,” to a Canadian entrepreneur for $50 million, and used the money to put electricity on the outer islands, create scholarships and finance the process to join the United Nations."

Synonyms

All synonyms
ellice islands

Example

More examples

"Funafuti is the capital of Tuvalu."

Etymology

From Tuvaluan Tuuvalu (literally “eight standing together”) in reference to the eight inhabited islands of Tuvalu, although Tuvalu consists of nine islands. The ninth island, Niulakita, was inhabited in 1949. Compare to Proto-Austronesian *walu (“eight”).

More for "tuvalu"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

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