Gobi

See also: gobi and Góbi

English

Alternative forms

• Cobi

Etymology

From Mongolian Говь (Govʹ) or ᠭᠣᠪᠢ (Ɣobi).

Proper noun

Gobi

1. A large desert in Asia, spanning the countries of Mongolia and China.
   • 1901 December 21, “Science and Industry”, in The Friend: A Religious and Literary Journal‎^[1], volume LXXV, number 23, →OCLC, page 181, column 1:

     In winter the thermometer on the Mongolian plateau sometimes drops to –40° Fahrenheit, yet the camels wander about with no sense of suffering. On the other hand, the Russian explorer, Prejevalski, found the temperature of the ground in the Gobi Desert in summer to be more than 140° Fahrenheit, and the camels are apparently as indifferent to this degree of heat as they are to the winter cold.

   • 1951, Herbert Hoover, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover, Years of Adventure 1874-1920‎^[2], New York: Macmillan Company, →OCLC, →OL, page 44:

     These missionaries were good people of whose devotion America can be proud. Some months later under Boxer mob-violence they were driven out on to the Gobi Desert. But the Tao Tai gave them protection which saw them safely across the desert to the Russian frontier, though with much hardship.

   • 1975 August 24, “Picasso, Chinese artists in Taipei show”, in Free China Weekly‎^[3], volume XVI, number 33, Taipei, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2:

     In 1941, Chang traveled to the remote Gobi Desert in Northwest China and lived in the Tun Huang Caves for two years and seven months.

   • 2013, Moly Aloian, The Gobi Desert (Deserts Around the World)‎^[4], Crabtree Publishing Company, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 4:

     The Gobi Desert is a large desert in Asia. It covers about 500,000 square miles (1,294,994 sq km), stretching from the Tien Shan Mountains in the west and across southeastern Mongolia and northern China.

   • 2013, Al Gore, “Outgrowth”, in The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change‎^[5], New York: Random House, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 193:

     The same livestock population explosion is damaging the overgrazed grasslands surrounding China’s Gobi Desert, where the dust storms are also increasing dramatically.

   • 2022 December 16, Keith Bradsher, “A Visit Inside China’s Desert Rocket Base”, in The New York Times‎^[6], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 December 2022, Science‎^[7]:

     In November, I visited China’s rocket base deep in the frozen Gobi Desert to witness the launch of three astronauts during the Shenzhou 15 mission to China’s new space station.

   • 2023 March 22, “China: Sandstorms blanket Beijing as air pollution spikes”, in Deutsche Welle‎^[8], archived from the original on 22 March 2023‎^[9]:

     Beijing regularly faces dust storms in March and April due to its proximity to the Gobi desert as well as deforestation throughout northern China.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Gobi.

Derived terms

• Gobi argali

 

Translations

desert

• Arabic: جُوبِي m (gūbī)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 戈壁 (zh) (Gēbì), 戈壁沙漠 (Gēbì shāmò)

• French: Gobi (fr) m
• German: Gobi (de) f
• Hindi: गोबी मरुस्थल (gobī marusthal)
• Irish: Góibí f, Gaineamhlach Ghóibí m
• Italian: Gobi m
• Japanese: ゴビ (Gobi), ゴビ砂漠 (ゴビさばく, Gobi sabaku)
• Kalmyk: Һөв (Ğöv)
• Kazakh: Гоби (Gobi)
• Korean: 고비 (ko) (Gobi), 고비 사막 (Gobi samak)
• Kyrgyz: Гоби (Gobi)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: Говь (Govʹ)

  Mongolian: ᠭᠣᠪᠢ (Ɣobi)

• Norwegian: Gobiørkenen
• Persian: گبی (gobi)
• Portuguese: Gobi m
• Russian: Го́би (ru) f (Góbi), пусты́ня Го́би f (pustýnja Góbi)
• Spanish: Gobi m
• Swedish: Gobiöknen (sv) c
• Tajik: Габи (Gabi)
• Uzbek: Gobi
• Vietnamese: sa mạc Gô bi

Further reading

• Saul B. Cohen, editor (2008), “Gobi Desert”, in The Columbia Gazetteer of the World‎^[10], 2nd edition, volume 1, New York: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 1377, column 1
• “Gobi”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “Gobi Desert, pn.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “Gobi”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “Gobi” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2024.

Anagrams

• Igbo, big O, biog, biog.

German

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Proper noun

Gobi f (proper noun, genitive Gobi)

1. a desert in China and Mongolia; Gobi

Synonyms

• dated: Schamo

Further reading

• “Gobi” in Duden online