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 hydronymy of the area, derives the name from Paleo-Hispanic'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; the capital city of Portugal.
   • 2012 March 19, David Denby, “Everybody Comes to Rick’s: “Casablanca” on the Big Screen”, in The New Yorker‎^[1], archived from the original on 30 December 2024:

     We see documentary footage (the trudging homeless) and an animated map—an inky line movies from Paris to Marseilles, from there to Oran, and finally to Casablanca, where the lucky ones escape via Lisbon and the rest “wait…and wait…and wait.”

3. A district of Portugal around the capital.
4. (metonymic) 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 Arabic: لِشْبونَة (lišbōna)

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

  Cantonese: 里斯本 (lei⁵ si¹ bun²), 葡京 (pou⁴ ging¹)

  Mandarin: 里斯本 (zh) (Lǐsīběn), 葡京 (zh) (Pújīng)

• Czech: Lisabon (cs) m
• Danish: Lissabon n
• Dutch: Lissabon (nl) n
• Esperanto: Lisbono
• Finnish: Lissabon (fi)
• French: Lisbonne (fr) f

  Middle French: Lissebonne

• Frisian:

  North Frisian: Lisabon

  West Frisian: Lissabon n

• 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
• Mirandese: Lisboua
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: Лиссабон (Lissabon)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: Lisboa (no), Lissabon (no)

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

  Cyrillic: Лисабон m

  Latin: Lisabon m

• Slovak: Lisabon (sk) 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)

  Ottoman Turkish: لیزبون (Lizbon)

• Turkmen: Lissabon
• Ukrainian: Лісабо́н (uk) m (Lisabón)
• Urdu: لسبن m (lisban)
• Uyghur: لىسبون (lisbon)
• Uzbek: Lissabon
• Venetan: Lisbona f
• Vietnamese: Li-xboa
• 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)