Arizona
UK /ˌæɹɪˈzəʊnə/ · US /ˌæɹɪˈzoʊnə/ proper noun
- proper noun A state in the southwestern United States, established 1912. Capital: Phoenix.
- proper noun (historical) A territory of the southwest Confederate (1862–1865) and United States of America (1863–1912), with its capitals at Tucson, Prescott, and Phoenix.
- proper noun (historical) A department of the northwest Second Mexican Empire (1863–1865), with its capital at Altar.
- proper noun (rare) A unisex given name.
- proper noun Arizona Beverage Company, which sells its products under the name AriZona.
- proper noun Arizona City, a census-designated place in Pinal County, Arizona, United States.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, United States.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Burt County, Nebraska, United States.
Synonyms
Etymology
Uncertain. Possibly from O'odham alĭ ṣonak (literally “small spring”) (traditionally through the Spanish intermediary form Arizonac; compare modern Arizona), a name initially applied to an area around a silver-mining camp in Sonora.
Alternatively, perhaps from Basque haritz ona (literally “good oak”), as the area had many Basque herders, and a descendant of them established the ranchería of Arizona (circa 1735) in Sonora.
Suggestions of derivation from *arizuma, supposedly a Nahuatl word meaning “silver-bearing”, are considered implausible, and derivation from árida zona (literally “dry zone”) is considered a folk etymology.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “Arizona”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details