California

See also: Califórnia, Califòrnia, california, and californià

English

Map of US highlighting California

Etymology

Probably Spanish after California, a Utopian island of the Amazons described in Las sergas de Esplandián, a 16th-century Spanish novel. The name comes from the fictional island's Muslim-allied queen, Calafia, whose name is a play on Arabic خَلِيفَة (ḵalīfa, “caliph”). For more information see: Etymology of California.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌkæl.ɪˈfoɹ.njə/, /ˌkæl.ɪˈfoɹ.ni.ə/, [ˌkʰæl.ɪˈfo̞ɹ.njə]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌkæl.ɪˈfɔː.ni.ə/, /-njə/, (Received Pronunciation) /ˌkæl.ɪˈfɔː.nɪ.ə/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)niə
• Hyphenation: Cal‧i‧for‧nia
• (without the horse–hoarse merger)
  • (rhotic) IPA^(key): /ˌkæl.ɪˈfɔɹ.njə/
  • (non-rhotic) IPA^(key): /ˌkæl.ɪˈfɔː.njə/

Proper noun

California (countable and uncountable, plural Californias)

2. The most populous state of the United States. Capital: Sacramento. Largest city: Los Angeles.

   Synonyms: (abbreviation) CA, (slang) Cali, (derogatory) Commiefornia

   • 1971, Joni Mitchell (lyrics and music), “California”, in Blue:

     But my heart cried out for you, California / Oh, California, I'm coming home

3. (chiefly historical) A region on the west coast of North America comprising the US state of California and the Baja California peninsula in Mexico; historically also including other areas in Alta California and Baja California.
4. Several places in the United States.
   1. A census-designated place in Maryland.
   2. A borough of Pennsylvania.
   3. A city, the county seat of Moniteau County, Missouri.
   4. A neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio.
   5. A city in Campbell County, Kentucky.
   6. A neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky.
   7. A village in Maine.
   8. A ghost town in West Virginia.
5. Several places in England:
   1. A village in Berkshire.
   2. A neighbourhood of Birmingham, West Midlands (OS grid ref SP0182).
   3. An area in Derby, Derbyshire.
   4. A district of Ipswich, Suffolk.
   5. A hamlet in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.
   6. An outer suburb of Dunstable, Bedfordshire (OS grid ref TL0120).
   7. A coastal resort in Ormesby St Margaret with Scratby, Norfolk.
6. A community of Ontario, Canada.
7. A town in the Santander department, Colombia.
8. A town in the Usulután department, El Salvador.
9. A neighborhood of Casablanca, Morocco.
10. A village in Bohol, Philippines.
11. A village in Stirlingshire, Scotland.
12. A town in Trinidad and Tobago.
13. University of California, Berkeley.

Derived terms

• Alta California
• Baja California
• CA
• CalArts
• californate
• California bankroll
• California barberry
• California blackberry
• California blanket
• California bungalow
• California burger
• California buttercup
• California Channel Island fox
• California City
• California condor
• California cooler
• California corbina
• California corn flakes
• California Creek
• California Current
• California dewberry
• California dogface butterfly
• California effect
• California fan palm
• California fuchsia
• California grass
• California hazelnut
• California holly
• California Hot Springs
• California Jack
• California kilowatt
• California king
• California kingsnake
• California laurel
• Californialike
• California-like
• California minute
• California mugwort
• Californian
• California newt
• Californianization
• Californianize
• California pepper tree
• California Pines
• California pitcher plant
• California pizza
• California plum
• California poppy
• California poppy
• California quail
• California rabbit tobacco
• California roll
• California sea lion
• California smoothtongue
• California Spangled Cat
• California stop
• California-style pizza
• California sycamore
• Californiation
• California valley quail
• Californication
• californite
• californium
• daughter from California syndrome
• Gulf of California
• Norcal
• pride of California
• Socal
• Southern California

 

Related terms

• Dalifornia

Translations

US state

• Albanian: Kalifornia
• Amharic: ካሊፎርኒያ (kaliforniya)
• Arabic: كَالِيفُورْنِيَا f (kālīfūrniyā)

  Hijazi Arabic: كاليفورنيا f (kālifōrnya, kalifōrnya)

• Armenian: Կալիֆոռնիա (hy) (Kalifoṙnia)
• Azerbaijani: Kaliforniya (az)
• Basque: Kalifornia
• Bavarian: Kalifornien
• Belarusian: Каліфорнія (Kalifórnija)
• Breton: Kalifornia f
• Bulgarian: Калифо́рния (Kalifórnija)
• Burmese: ကာလီဖိုးနီးယား (kalihpui:ni:ya:)
• Catalan: Califòrnia (ca)
• Cherokee: ᎠᏕᎳᏧᏢᎢ (adelatsutlvi)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 加利福尼亞州／加利福尼亚州 (gaa¹ lei⁶ fuk¹ nei⁴ aa³), 加州 (gaa¹ zau¹)

  Mandarin: 加利福尼亞州／加利福尼亚州 (zh) (Jiālìfúníyǎ zhōu), 加州 (zh) (Jiāzhōu)

• Cornish: Kaliforni
• Czech: Kalifornie (cs) f
• Danish: Californien
• Dutch: Californië (nl) n
• Esperanto: Kalifornio (eo)
• Estonian: California (et)
• Faroese: Kalifornia n
• Finnish: Kalifornia (fi)
• French: Californie (fr) f
• Galician: California (gl) f
• Georgian: კალიფორნია (ḳalipornia)
• German: Kalifornien (de) n
• Greek: Καλιφόρνια (el) (Kalifórnia), Καλιφορνία (Kalifornía)
• Guaraní: Kalihõryña
• Gujarati: કેલિફોર્નિયા (keliphorniyā)
• Haitian Creole: Kalifòni
• Hawaiian: Kaleponi
• Hebrew: קליפורניה f (qalifornia)
• Hindi: कैलिफ़ोर्निया (kailiforniyā), कैलीफोर्निया (kailīphorniyā)
• Hungarian: Kalifornia (hu)
• Icelandic: Kalifornía f
• Ido: Kalifornia (io)
• Inuktitut: ᑳᓖᐴᕐᓃᐊ (kaaliipoorniia)
• Irish: an Chalafóirn f
• Italian: California (it) f
• Japanese: カリフォルニア州 (ja) (Kariforunia-shū), 加州 (ja) (Kashū)
• Kannada: ಕ್ಯಾಲಿಫೊರ್ನಿಯ (kyāliphorniya)
• Kazakh: Калифорния (kk) (Kaliforniä)
• Khmer: កាលីហ្វ័រញ៉ា (kaaliihvɔəñaa)
• Korean: 캘리포니아 (Kaelliponia)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: کالیفۆڕنیا (ckb) (kalîforrnya)

  Northern Kurdish: Kalîforniya

• Kyrgyz: Калифорния (Kaliforniya)
• Lao: ແຄລິຟໍເນຍ (khǣ li fǭ nīa), ກາລິຟໍເນຍ (kā li fǭ nīa)
• Latin: California f
• Latvian: Kalifornija f
• Limburgish: ^{(please verify)} Californije
• Lithuanian: Kalifornija f
• Luxembourgish: Kalifornien (lb)
• Macedonian: Калифо́рнија f (Kalifórnija)
• Malayalam: കാലിഫോർണിയ (kāliphōṟṇiya)
• Maltese: Kalifornja
• Maori: Karapōnia
• Marathi: कॅलिफॉर्निया m (kĕliphŏrniyā)
• Mongolian: Калифорни (Kaliforni)
• Navajo: Ahééháshį́į́h hahoodzo
• Nepali: क्यालिफोर्निया (kyāliphorniyā)
• Norman: Califournie f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: California (no)

  Nynorsk: California

• Pennsylvania German: Kalifornie
• Persian: کالیفرنیا (fa) (kâliforniyâ)
• Polish: Kalifornia (pl) f
• Portuguese: Califórnia (pt) f
• Romanian: California (ro) f
• Russian: Калифо́рния (ru) f (Kalifórnija)
• Samogitian: Kalėfuornėjė
• Scots: Californie
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Калифо̀рнија f

  Roman: Kalifòrnija (sh) f

• Silesian: Kaliforńijo
• Sinhalese: කැලිෆෝනියාවේ (kælifōniyāwē)
• Slovak: Kalifornia f
• Slovene: Kalifórnija (sl) f
• Somali: Kalifornia
• Spanish: California (es) f
• Swedish: Kalifornien (sv)
• Tagalog: Kaliporniya
• Tajik: Калифорния (Kaliforniya)
• Tamil: கலிபோர்னியா (kalipōrṉiyā)
• Telugu: కాలిఫోర్నియా (kāliphōrniyā)
• Thai: แคลิฟอร์เนีย (kɛɛ-lí-fɔɔ-niia)
• Tibetan: ཁྰ་ལེ་ཧྥོར་ནི་ཡ (kh'a le hphor ni ya)
• Tongan: Kalifonia
• Turkish: Kaliforniya (tr)
• Ukrainian: Каліфорнія f (Kalifornija)
• Urdu: کیلیفورنیا (kelīforniyā)
• Uyghur: كالىفورنىيە (kaliforniye)
• Uzbek: Kaliforniya
• Vietnamese: Ca Li (vi), Ca-li, Ca-li-phoóc-ni-a, Caliphoócnia
• Walloon: Californeye
• Welsh: Califfornia (cy)
• West Frisian: Kalifornje n
• Yiddish: קאַליפֿאָרניע (kalifornye)

village in Scotland

• Scots: Californie
• Scottish Gaelic: Calafornaidh

Further reading

• California on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Etymology of California
• California on Wikiquote.Wikiquote
• California on Wikivoyage.Wikivoyage
• Category:California on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• Fornicalia

Central Nahuatl

Proper noun

California

1. California (a state of the United States)

Danish

Proper noun

California (genitive Californias)

1. Alternative form of Californien

Galician

Proper noun

California

1. California (a state of the United States)

Related terms

• californiano

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English California.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.liˈfɔr.nja/
• Rhymes: -ɔrnja
• Hyphenation: Ca‧li‧fòr‧nia

Proper noun

California f

1. California (a state of the United States)

Latin

Etymology

New Latin, borrowed from Spanish California.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ka.liˈfor.ni.a/, [kälʲɪˈfɔrniä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ka.liˈfor.ni.a/, [käliˈfɔrniä]

Proper noun

California f sg (genitive Californiae); first declension

1. (New Latin) California

   California regiō magna est. ― California is a big region.

Declension

First-declension noun, singular only.

	singular
nominative	California
genitive	Californiae
dative	Californiae
accusative	Californiam
ablative	Californiā
vocative	California

Derived terms

• californiānus
• californicus

Romanian

Proper noun

California f

1. California (a state of the United States)

Related terms

• californian

Spanish

Etymology

First attested in Montalvo's Las sergas de Esplandián as the name of Calafia's monarchy. A name invented by the author to remind Spanish readers of the recent Reconquista, probably based on califa (“caliph”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaliˈfoɾnja/ [ka.liˈfoɾ.nja]
• Rhymes: -oɾnja
• Syllabification: Ca‧li‧for‧nia

Proper noun

California f

1. California (a state of the United States)
2. A town in the Usulután department, El Salvador

Derived terms

• Alta California
• Baja California
• Baja California Sur
• californiano
• californio
• colín de California
• liebre de California

 

References

• Putnam, Ruth (1917). Herbert Ingram Priestley (ed.). California: the name. Berkeley: University of California.