zaire
UK /zaɪˈɪə/ · US /zɑːˈɪəɹ/ noun, proper noun
Forms zaires
- noun (historical) The unit of currency of Zaire from 1967 to 1998.
- noun The former currency of Zaïre.
- proper noun (historical) Former name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo: a country in Central Africa; used from 1971–1997.
- proper noun (chiefly historical) Synonym of Congo (major river in Central Africa)
- proper noun A province of Angola, named after the river
Synonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from French zaïre. Named after the Zaire River, another name for the Congo River.
Borrowed from French Zaïre, a truncation of Kongo nzadi o nzere (“river swallowing rivers”) which refers to the Congo river; adopted in accordance with the Authenticity Movement.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “zaire”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details