Lisbon

English

Etymology

As the capital of Portugal, from French Lisbonne, from Arabic لِشْبُونَة (lišbūna), from Latin Olisīpō, the origin of which is uncertain. Older spellings include Ulixbona and Ulixbuna (in the Visigothic era); Ὀλισσιπών (Olissipṓn) or Ὀλισσιπόνα (Olissipóna) (by Greek writers), Olisippo (by Pliny the Elder), and Ulyssippo (by Pomponius Mela of Hispania), the last of which relates to the first-century Roman folk etymology that it was founded by and named after Ulysses; another common folk etymology is the Phoenician 𐤏𐤋𐤉𐤑 𐤏𐤁𐤀 (ʿlyṣ ʿbʾ /⁠ʿaliṣ-ʿuboʾ⁠/, “safe harbour”), but there is not much evidence for such words. Another possibility, based on hydronomy of the area, derives the name from a pre-Roman substrate of Iberia's appellation for the Tagus, Lisso or Lucio.

In other senses, with reference to the Portuguese city.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɪzbən/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪzbən

Proper noun

Lisbon

2. A port city on the Iberian Peninsula, at the mouth of the Tagus River on the Atlantic Ocean; capital city of Portugal.
3. A district of Portugal around the capital.
4. (metonymically) The Portuguese government.
5. A city, the county seat of Ransom County, North Dakota, United States.
6. A village, the county seat of Columbiana County, Ohio, United States.

Synonyms

• (capital of Portugal): Olisipo (historical), Lisboa
• (village in Ohio, USA): New Lisbon (historical)

Derived terms

• Lisboner
• Lisbonite
• New Lisbon

 

Translations

capital city of Portugal

• Afrikaans: Lissabon
• Albanian: Lisbona f, Lisbonë f (indefinite)
• Amharic: ሊዝቦን (lizbon)
• Arabic: لِشْبُونَة f (Lišbūna), أُشْبُونَة f (ʔUšbūna) (archaic)

  Hijazi: لِشْبونَة (Lišbōna)

• Aragonese: Lisbona f
• Armenian: Լիսաբոն (hy) (Lisabon)
• Asturian: Lisboa f
• Azerbaijani: Lissabon (az)
• Basque: Lisboa (eu)
• Belarusian: Лісабо́н m (Lisabón)
• Bengali: লিসবন (lisbon)
• Bulgarian: Лисабо́н m (Lisabón)
• Burmese: လစ်စဘွန်းမြို့ (lacca.bhwan:mrui.)
• Catalan: Lisboa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 里斯本 (lei⁵ si¹ bun²)

  Mandarin: 里斯本 (zh) (Lǐsīběn)

• Czech: Lisabon (cs) m
• Danish: Lissabon n
• Dutch: Lissabon (nl) n
• Esperanto: Lisbono
• Finnish: Lissabon (fi)
• French: Lisbonne (fr) f
• Friulian: Lisbone
• Galician: Lisboa (gl) f
• Georgian: ლისაბონი (lisaboni)
• German: Lissabon (de) n
• Greek: Λισσαβώνα f (Lissavóna)

  Ancient Greek: Ὀλισσιπών (Olissipṓn)

• Hawaiian: Likepona
• Hebrew: לִיסְבּוֹן f (lísbon)
• Hindi: लिस्बन m (lisban)
• Hungarian: Lisszabon (hu)
• Icelandic: Lissabon f
• Irish: Liospóin f
• Italian: Lisbona (it) f
• Japanese: リスボン (ja) (Risubon)
• Kazakh: Лиссабон (Lissabon)
• Khmer: លីសបោន (km) (liisbaon)
• Korean: 리스본 (ko) (Riseubon)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: Lîzbon (ku)

• Kyrgyz: Лиссабон (Lissabon)
• Lao: ລີຊະບົນ (lī sa bon)
• Latin: Olisīpō
• Latvian: Lisabona f
• Ligurian: Lisbonn-a
• Lithuanian: Lisabona (lt) f
• Low German:

  German Low German: Lissabon n

• Macedonian: Лисабон m (Lisabon)
• Maltese: Liżbona
• Middle French: Lissebonne
• Mirandese: Lisboua
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: Лиссабон (Lissabon)

• North Frisian: Lisabon
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: Lisboa (no), Lissabon (no)

• Occitan: Lisbona f
• Old Portuguese: Lixbõa
• Ottoman Turkish: لیزبون (Lizbon)
• Pashto: لزبن m (Lezbón), لېزبن m (Lezbon)
• Persian: لیسبون (Lisbon)
• Polish: Lizbona (pl) f
• Portuguese: Lisboa (pt) f
• Romanian: Lisabona (ro)
• Romansch: Lisbona f
• Russian: Лиссабо́н (ru) m (Lissabón)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Лисабон m

  Roman: Lisabon m

• Slovak: Lisabon m
• Slovene: Lizbóna (sl) f
• Spanish: Lisboa (es) f
• Swedish: Lissabon (sv) n
• Tajik: Лиссабон (Lissabon)
• Tamil: லிஸ்பன் (ta) (lispaṉ)
• Tatar: Лиссабон (Lissabon)
• Thai: ลิสบอน (th) (lís-bɔ̂n)
• Tibetan: ལི་སི་བཱོན (li si bōn)
• Turkish: Lizbon (tr)
• Turkmen: Lissabon
• Ukrainian: Лісабо́н (uk) m (Lisabón)
• Urdu: لسبن m (lisban)
• Uyghur: لىسبون (lisbon)
• Uzbek: Lissabon
• Venetian: Lisbona f
• Vietnamese: Li-xboa
• West Frisian: Lissabon n
• Yiddish: ליסבאָן n (lisbon), ליסאַבאָן n (lisabon)

Noun

Lisbon

1. A sweet, light-coloured wine from Portugal.
   • 1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 165:

     We had plenty of port wine and Lisbon, which, with uninterrupted good humour, made the hours glide rapidly away.

See also

• Lisboa

Anagrams

• Bolins, bolins

Welsh

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪsbən/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪzbən/

Proper noun

Lisbon f (not mutable)

1. Lisbon (the capital city of Portugal)