America

• (the United States of America):
  • Merica / 'Murica / 'murica (nonstandard, often jocular or representing dialect)
  • Amerikkka (derogatory slang)
• (North and South America):
  • Americas
  • Amerikay (in folk songs)

Learned borrowing from New Latin America, feminine Latinized form of the Italian first name of Amerigo Vespucci (1454–1512). Amerigo is an Italian name derived from a Germanic language and is etymologically related to Henry and Emmerich. The earliest known use of America for the (South) American continent is on a 1507 map by Martin Waldseemüller;^[1][2] see Naming of the Americas for more.

Although this is the most widely accepted derivation, it has also been suggested that it could originate from the name of the Amerrisque mountains in Nicaragua (from Mayan), and another disputed theory is that it derives from the surname of Richard Amerike (1440–1503), whose surname is an anglicised form of Welsh ap Meurig (“son of Meurig”), from Old Welsh Mouric, which could be a rendition of Latin Mauritius (compare Maurice).^[3]

• IPA^(key): /əˈmɛɹ.ɪ.kə/
• (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /əˈmɛɹ.ə.kə/, /əˈmɛɹ.kə/
  • Rhymes: -ɛɹɪkə

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (North India) IPA^(key): /əm(ə)ˈɾɪ.kə/
• (South India) IPA^(key): /əˈmɛ.ɾɪ.kaː/
• (nonstandard) IPA^(key): /əˈmɚ.ɪ.kə/, /əˈmɚ.ə.kə/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /əˈmɛɹ.ɪ.keɪ/, /əˈmɛɹ.ɪ.kɔː/^[4]

America (plural Americas)

2. A supercontinent consisting of North America, Central America and South America regarded as a whole; in full, the Americas.
   • 1847, Joseph Dalton Hooker, “On the Vegetation of the Galapagos Archipelago, as compared with that of some other Tropical Islands and of the Continent of America”, in Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, →DOI, pages 235–262:

     The results of my examination ... for the most part allied to plants of the cooler part of America, or the uplands of the tropical latitudes ...

   • 1890, Encyclopaedia Britannica, page 796:

     the Marsupials or pouched animals, being found throughout the continent of America, from the United States to Patagonia

   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 691:

     Franciscan attitudes in the Canaries offered possible precedents for what Europe now came to call ‘the New World’, or, through a somewhat tangled chain of circumstances, ‘America’.

4. A country in North America; in full, United States of America.
   • 1837, George Sand, translated by Stanley Young, Mauprat‎^[6], Cassandra Editions, published 1977, →ISBN, page 237:

     For a long time the dormouse and polecat had seemed to him overfeeble enemies for his restless valour, even as the granary floor seemed to afford too narrow a field. Every day he read the papers of the previous day in the servants' hall of the houses he visited, and it appeared to him that this war in America, which was hailed as the awakening of the spirit of liberty and justice in the New World, ought to produce a revolution in France.

   • 1945 April 16, Harry S. Truman, 10:06 from the start, in MP72-20 President Roosevelt’s Funeral and Procession; Truman – New President of U.S.‎^[7], Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives Identifier: 595162:

     So that there can be no possible misunderstanding, both Germany and Japan can be certain beyond any shadow of a doubt that America will continue to fight for freedom until no vestige of resistance remains. Our demand has been and it remains unconditional surrender.

   • 2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, in The Economist‎^[8], volume 407, page 74:

     In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result.

   • 2014 July 27, “Nuclear Weapons”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 1, episode 12, John Oliver (actor), via HBO:

     And once gain, America is saved from destruction by the heroes in “MEAL Team Six”.

   • 2022 April 3, Roisin Conaty & al., Big Fat Quiz of Everything, Channel 4:

     Captain America, how did he get his powers?
     I think he... he got bitten by America.

5. A female given name.
6. A town in Limburg, Netherlands.

• In English, the unqualified term America often refers to the United States of America as a synecdoche, with American typically referring to people and things from that country. The sense of the Americas varies in commonness between regions in contemporary English, but is found in certain circumstances, such as in reference to the Organization of American States.

• (North and South America) Americas
• (United States of America)

• → Burmese: အမေရိက (a.meri.ka.)
• → Chinese: 亞美利加 / 亚美利加
• → Japanese: アメリカ
• → Malay: Amerika
• → Maori: Amerika
• → Tagalog: Amerika
• → Tokelauan: Amelika

• America on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

First attested as Amerika in 1838-1857. Derived from New Latin America. The settlement was named for its remote location.

• IPA^(key): /ɑˈmeː.ri.kaː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Ame‧ri‧ca
• Homophone: Amerika

America n

1. a village in Horst aan de Maas, Limburg, Netherlands

   Synonym: Turftreiersriek (Carnival nickname)

• van Berkel, Gerard, Samplonius, Kees (2018) Nederlandse plaatsnamen verklaard (in Dutch), Mijnbestseller.nl, →ISBN

From New Latin America.

• IPA^(key): /aˈmɛ.ri.ka/
• Rhymes: -ɛrika
• Hyphenation: A‧mè‧ri‧ca

America f

1. America, the Americas (a supercontinent consisting of North America, Central America and South America regarded as a whole; in full, the Americas)

• →⇒ Slavomolisano: Lamerika

• amicare, camerai, macaire, macerai, rameica

Feminine form of Americus, the Latinized form of the forename of Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci (1454–1512). Amerigo is the Italian form of a Germanic personal name (see Emmerich).

First recorded in 1507 (together with the related term Amerigen) in the Cosmographiae Introductio, apparently written by Matthias Ringmann, in reference to South America;^[1] first applied to both North and South America by Mercator in 1538. Amerigen means "land of Amerigo" and derives from Amerigo and gen, the accusative case of Greek gē "earth". America accorded with the feminine names of Asia, Africa, and Europa.^[2]

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [a.mɛˈriː.ka], [aˈmɛ.rɪ.ka]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [a.meˈriː.ka], [aˈmɛː.ri.ka]
• Note: the length of the /i/ can be long, and that form is well-attested in Latin literature; for example, Rafael Landívar's Rusticatio Mexicana. This form is mostly attested in poetry, and it corresponds more closely to the Italian pronunciation of Amerigo.^[3]

Amerī̆ca f (genitive Amerī̆cae); first declension

1. (New Latin) America, the Americas (a supercontinent consisting of North America, Central America and South America regarded as a whole; in full, the Americas)

First-declension noun.

• → Bulgarian: Аме́рика (Amérika)
• Dutch: Amerika, America
• English: America
  • → Burmese: အမေရိက (a.meri.ka.)
  • → Chinese: 亞美利加 / 亚美利加
  • → Japanese: アメリカ
  • → Malay: Amerika
  • → Maori: Amerika
  • → Tagalog: Amerika
  • → Tokelauan: Amelika
• Italian: America
  • →⇒ Slavomolisano: Lamerika
• → Macedonian: Аме́рика (Amérika)
• Occitan: America
• Romanian: America
• → Russian: Аме́рика (Amérika)
  • → Eastern Mari: Америке (Amerike)
• → Serbo-Croatian: Аме́рика
• → Ukrainian: Аме́рика (Améryka)
• → Welsh: America

• America in Ramminger, Johann (16 July 2016 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[9], pre-publication website, 2005-2016

From New Latin America.

• IPA^(key): /ameˈɾiko̞/

America f

1. America, the Americas (a supercontinent consisting of North America, Central America and South America regarded as a whole; in full, the Americas)

• America del Nòrd
• America centrala
• America del Sud
• american

Borrowed from Latin America.

• IPA^(key): [aˈme.ri.ka]

America f (plural Americi)

1. America, the Americas (a supercontinent consisting of North America, Central America and South America regarded as a whole; in full, the Americas)
2. America, United States of America (a country in North America; in full, United States of America)

• America Centrală
• America de Nord
• America de Sud
• american

From New Latin America.

• IPA^(key): /aˈmɛrɪka/

America f

1. America, the Americas (a supercontinent consisting of North America, Central America and South America regarded as a whole; in full, the Americas)
2. America, United States of America (a country in North America; in full, United States of America)

• yr Amerig (“the Americas”)