English Reference

Word

geneva

Phoneticsgene·va

US/dʒəˈnivə/

UK/dʒənˈiːvɐ/

Definitions

01the city in Switzerland

B2

n. a famous city in Switzerland that is home to many international organisations like the United Nations.

n. the second-most populous city in Switzerland, serving as a global hub for diplomacy and international cooperation.

“Many international peace talks are held in Geneva because of its neutral history.”

“Geneva serves as the worldwide headquarters for numerous humanitarian organisations, including the Red Cross and various United Nations agencies.”

02the Geneva Conventions

B2 · Law

n. a set of international laws that protect people during wars, such as prisoners and injured soldiers.

n. a series of international treaties concluded in Geneva, establishing the standards of international law for humanitarian treatment in war.

“The soldiers were accused of breaking the rules set by Geneva during the conflict.”

“Legal scholars argued whether the new technology violated the spirit of Geneva regarding the treatment of non-combatants.”

Synonyms

Geneva Conventions

03a type of gin

C2 · Cooking

n. an older name for a strong alcoholic drink similar to gin.

n. a grain spirit flavoured with juniper berries, historically referring to the Dutch style known as jenever.

“The old sailor sat in the corner of the pub with a glass of geneva.”

“The merchant's ledger from 1740 listed several barrels of geneva imported from the Netherlands for sale in the local market.”

Archaic

Synonyms

ginjenever

Real-World Examples

“To investigate that question, an international team used the ATLAS experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva, Switzerland.”
ScienceDaily · 20 Sept 2026
“They have three European branches in Geneva, Vienna and Rome, but not in Spain.”
The Local · 18 Sept 2026

Etymology

Mentioned in Latin texts as Genava. Probably via a Proto-Celtic genwā from Proto-Indo-European ǵénw-eh₂ (“knee”), a derivative of *ǵónu in the sense of a bending river or estuary, possibly akin to Genoa.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry

Level
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Updated

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English Reference