hinterland

See also: Hinterland

English

WOTD – 5 October 2015

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from German Hinterland, from hinter (behind) +‎ Land (land), cognate to English hinder (back, rear) + land. First used in English in 1888 by George Chisholm in his work Handbook of Commercial Geography originally as hinderland, but the current spelling (following German) became more popular.[1] The term is characteristic of a thalassocratic analysis of space (from the point of view of a nation with maritime supremacy, such as 19th-century Britain).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈhɪntə(ɹ)ˌlænd/, /-lənd/
  • Audio (General Australian):(file)

Noun

hinterland (countable and uncountable, plural hinterlands)

  1. The land immediately next to, and inland from, a coast.
    Hypernyms: land; area; region; place; location
    • 1961 August, “New traffic flows in South Wales”, in Trains Illustrated, page 492:
      In West Wales it has never been possible until recently to exploit the magnificent natural harbour of Milford Haven, for there was no industrial hinterland.
  2. The rural territory surrounding an urban area, especially a port.
    Hypernyms: land; area; region; place; location
  3. A remote or undeveloped area.
    Synonyms: backwater, sticks; see also Thesaurus:remote place
    Hypernyms: land; area; region; place; location
    Coordinate terms: borderland, edgeland
    • 2021 February 9, Christina Newland, “Is Tom Hanks part of a dying breed of genuine movie stars?”, in BBC[1]:
      In the film, Hanks is a veteran traversing the Texas hinterlands during the Reconstruction period when he stumbles upon a lost young white girl (Helena Zengel) who only speaks Kiowa, and is forced to undergo a dangerous journey to bring the orphan to her family.
  4. (figuratively) That which is unknown or unexplored about someone.
    Hypernym: mystery
    Near-synonym: shadow
  5. An area of land far from the sea.
    Hypernyms: land; area; region; place; location
    Synonyms: interior, backcountry
  6. (figuratively) Anything vague or ill-defined, especially something that is ill understood.
    Hypernym: mystery
    Near-synonym: shadowland
    • abstract of 2007, Lesley Jeffries, Textual Construction of the Female Body:
      This approach utilizes concepts such as naming, describing, contrasting and equating to access the hinterland between structure and meaning, and to map out the subtle ways in which texts can naturalise the ideology of the perfect female form.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

References

  1. ^ hinterland”, in Encyclopædia Britannica, 20 September 2019 (last accessed)

Dutch

Etymology

From German Hinterland.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɦɪntərlɑnt/
  • Audio:(file)

Noun

hinterland n (plural hinterlanden, diminutive hinterlandje n)

  1. hinterland (rural territory, backwater)

Synonyms

French

Etymology

Borrowed from German Hinterland.

Pronunciation

  • (aspirated or mute h) IPA(key): /in.tɛʁ.lɑ̃d/

Noun

hinterland m (plural hinterlands)

  1. hinterland

Further reading

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Hinterland.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈin.ter.land/[1]
  • Rhymes: -interland
  • Hyphenation: hìn‧ter‧land

Noun

hinterland m (invariable)

  1. hinterland, interior

References

  1. ^ hinterland in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Hinterland.

Noun

hinterland n (plural hinterlanduri)

  1. hinterland

Declension

Declension of hinterland
singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative hinterland hinterlandul hinterlanduri hinterlandurile
genitive-dative hinterland hinterlandului hinterlanduri hinterlandurilor
vocative hinterlandule hinterlandurilor