Formosa
UK /fɔːˈməʊ.sə/ · US /fɔɹˈmoʊ.sə/ proper noun
Forms Formosas
- proper noun (dated) Synonym of Taiwan: an island of East Asia.
- proper noun (historical) A prefecture of Fujian, China (Qing Empire) (1683–1885).
- proper noun (historical) A province of China (Qing Empire) (1885–1895).
- proper noun (historical) A dependency of Japan (1895–1945).
- proper noun (dated) A province of Taiwan (Republic of China) (from 1945).
- proper noun (dated) A claimed province of China (People's Republic of China or mainland China) (from 1949).
- proper noun A city in Goiás, Brazil.
- proper noun An island of the Bissagos Islands, Guinea-Bissau.
- proper noun A city in northern Argentina.
- proper noun A department of Argentina around the city.
- proper noun A province of Argentina around the city.
- proper noun A surname from Maltese.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Portuguese Formosa, as in Ilha Formosa (literally “Beautiful Island”) and Vila Formosa da Imperatriz (literally “Beautiful Town of the Empress”), from formosa (“beautiful, shapely”), from Latin fōrmōsus (“beautiful, well-formed”), from fōrma (“shape”) + -ōsus (“-ful”), literally “shapeful”.
The Brazilian city was named in honor of Empress Teresa Cristina, in the 1840s.
From Spanish Formosa, from Vuelta la Formosa and Vuelta Fermosa (“Beautiful Turn”) in reference to a bend in the Paraguay River near the city, from Old Spanish fermosa, from Latin formosa.
Borrowed from Maltese Formosa.
Sources: Wiktionary — from the Wiktionary entry “Formosa”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details