Oregon
UK /ˈɒɹɪɡən/ · US /ˈɔɹɪɡən/ proper noun
- proper noun A state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Capital: Salem. Largest city: Portland.
- proper noun A ghost town in Boone County, Arkansas.
- proper noun A small city, the county seat of Ogle County, Illinois.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Mercer County, Kentucky.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland.
- proper noun A minor city, the county seat of Holt County, Missouri.
- proper noun A city in Lucas County, Ohio.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Synonyms
Etymology
From earlier Ouragon, likely corruption of Spanish orejón (“big ears”), probably describing the banks of the Columbia River, although this remains uncertain. Multiple theories of further origins persist, usually an ultimate derivation from a Native American language:
* A clipping of French Ouariconsint, itself a corruption of Ouisconsin(k), allegedly from Algonquin meskousing (“it lies in red, Wisconsin”).
* Corruption of French ouragan (“hurricane”)
* Borrowing from Abenaki wligen (“good”), cf. Algonquin wauregan (“beautiful”)
* Borrowing from Shoshone ogoe (“river”) + paanangkwa (“west”)
* Borrowing from Chinook Jargon ulakan (“candlefish”)
See Wikipedia article on the toponym Oregon for more information.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “Oregon”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details