Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

melanesia

/ˌmɛl.əˈni.ʒə/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.17 in modern English

Syllables
Mel-a-ne-sia
IPA
/ˌmɛl.əˈni.ʒə/
11
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
4
Syllables
7
Unique Chars

Meaning

name

A continental region of Oceania, consisting of New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Fiji.

Example Sentences

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *melh₂-der. Proto-Indo-European *mélh₂ns Proto-Hellenic *mélans Ancient Greek μέλας (mélas)lbor. Ancient Greek νῆσος (nêsos)lbor. Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia Old French -ie Middle French -ie French -ie French Mélanésiebor. English Melanesia From French Mélanésie (coined by Jules Dumont d'Urville), from Ancient Greek μέλας (mélas, “dark”) + νῆσος (nêsos, “island”), referring to the skin color of the inhabitants.

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: Mélanésie, μέλας

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /ˌmɛl.əˈni.ʒə/
  • British English: /ˌmɛl.əˈniː.zi.ə/

Derived Forms

Melanesian

Frequently Paired Words

Melanie Micronesia Polynesia

Questions

How do you pronounce melanesia?
The recorded pronunciation is /ˌmɛl.əˈni.ʒə/.
What does melanesia mean?
A continental region of Oceania, consisting of New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Fiji.
Where does melanesia come from?
It is traced to French.

How to pronounce melanesia

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “melanesia”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˌmɛl.əˈni.ʒə/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “melanesia”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “melanesia” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.