dresden
n. uncountablen. a major city in eastern Germany known for its beautiful old buildings and art. It is famous for being rebuilt after it was destroyed in World War II.
n. the capital city of the German state of Saxony, situated on the Elbe River. Historically significant for its Baroque architecture and its near-total destruction by Allied bombing in 1945.
We spent the weekend exploring the museums in Dresden.
The reconstruction of the Frauenkirche in Dresden serves as a powerful symbol of the city's post-war recovery.
Often referred to as the Florence of the Elbe, Dresden houses vast art collections that survived the firebombing of the second world war through careful storage in rural mines.
Borrowed from German Dresden (“Dresden”) in the 1730s, from Middle High German Dresden, from a Sorbian source akin to Lower Sorbian Drježdźany, ultimately from Proto-Slavic dręzga, of which the locative case is dręzdzě.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
As a proper noun, it is typically used without an article.
Last updated May 7, 2026