Zaire
//zɑːˈɪəɹ// name, noun
name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The unit of currency of Zaire from 1967 to 1998. historical
- 2 the basic unit of money in Zaire wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 Former name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo: a country in Central Africa; used from 1971–1997. historical
- 2 Synonym of Congo (major river in Central Africa) historical
- 3 A province of Angola, named after the river
Example
More examples"In 1971, the RDC was renamed Zaire."
Etymology
Etymology 1
Truncation of Kongo nzadi o nzere (“river swallowing rivers”) which refers to the Congo river; adopted in accordance with the Authenticity Movement.
Etymology 2
Borrowed from French zaïre. Named after the Zaire River, another name for the Congo River.
Related phrases
More for "zaire"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.