English Reference

Word

lebanon

Phoneticslebanon

/ˈɫɛbənən/

Definitions

01the country

B1

n. a country in West Asia, located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea.

n. a sovereign state in the Levant region of Western Asia, officially known as the Lebanese Republic.

“Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon.”

“Lebanon has historically served as a commercial and cultural crossroads between the Mediterranean basin and the Arab world.”

Usage

Often preceded by 'the' in older texts (the Lebanon), but modern usage typically treats it as a proper noun without an article.

Synonyms

Lebanese Republic

02the mountain range

B2

n. a mountain range that runs through the country of Lebanon.

n. a mountain range extending across the length of Lebanon, parallel to the Mediterranean coast.

“The mountains of Lebanon are famous for their ancient cedar trees.”

“The Lebanon range reaches its highest point at Qurnat as Sawda, which stands over three thousand metres above sea level.”

Synonyms

Mount Lebanon

Etymology

The country's name comes from the name of the mountain range, which in turn comes from Biblical Hebrew לְבָנוֹן (ləḇānôn), from Proto-West Semitic *laban- (“white”) (compare Hebrew לָבָן (lāḇān, “white”), Arabic لَبَن (laban, “milk”)).

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

This entry

Level
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Updated

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