Vancouver

English

Etymology

The family name is from the Dutch place name Coevorden (“the place where cows ford the river”) via the Dutch family name van Coevorden (“a person from Coevorden”). The place names are derived from the family name, being named after George Vancouver, an English explorer who charted the northwestern Pacific coast of North America in a 1791–1794 expedition.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vænˈkuː.vɚ/, /væŋˈkuː.vɚ/

• Audio (British Columbia):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

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• Audio:

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• Rhymes: -uːvə(ɹ)

Proper noun

Vancouver (countable and uncountable, plural Vancouvers)

1. A surname.
3. A seaport, the largest city in British Columbia, Canada.
   • 2012 July 12, Nathan Pachal, “TomTom Congestion Index Useless for Metro Vancouver”, in The South Fraser Blog‎^[1], archived from the original on 23 April 2025:

     PS: The average commute time in the freewayless City of Vancouver is 27 minutes, while outside of the City of Vancouver the average commute time is 31 minutes.

4. A large island of British Columbia, Canada.
5. A river in southern British Columbia, Canada.
6. A mountain between Alaska, United States and Yukon, Canada in the Saint Elias Mountains.
7. A mountain straddling the Canterbury and the West Coast regions in the Southern Alps, on the South Island, New Zealand.
9. A city, the county seat of Clark County, Washington, United States.
   • 2025 August 21, Allison Williams, “I Braved Washington’s First In-N-Out Burger Line”, in Seattle Met‎^[2], archived from the original on 28 August 2025:

     Washington’s first outpost of the California-born burger joint opened Wednesday after long anticipation and a few fake-outs (like the prank sign someone posted in Wallingford in June). Problem is, it’s located in Ridgefield, a suburb of Vancouver, Washington. […] Ridgefield is the 424th location.

10. A lake in Clark County, Washington, United States.
11. (attributive) The Vancouver system of reference citation.
    • 2019, G. Jagadeesh, Biomedical Research, page 485:

      The different fields in the 'style' file include the format of the in-text citations (Vancouver or Harvard style) […]

Synonyms

• (Canadian city): Hollywood North (informal), Hongcouver (informal, somewhat derogatory), Lotusland (informal), No Fun City (informal, usually pejorative), Raincouver (informal), Vangroovy (informal).

Derived terms

• East Van
• East Vancouver
• Greater Vancouver
• Hongcouver
• Metro Vancouver
• North Van
• North Vancouver
• Raincouver
• South Van
• South Vancouver
• Vancouver fir
• Vancouverish
• Vancouver Island
• Vancouverism
• Vancouverite
• Vancouver Special
• Vangroovy
• Vansterdam
• West Van
• West Vancouver

Translations

city

• Albanian: Vankuvër
• Amharic: ቫንኩቨር (vankuvär)
• Arabic: فَانْكُوفَر m (fānkūfar)

  Hijazi Arabic: فانكوفر f (fānkūfar)

• Armenian: Վանկուվեր (Vankuver)
• Azerbaijani: Vankuver
• Belarusian: Ванку́вер m (Vankúvjer)
• Bengali: ভ্যানকুভার (bhênkubhar)
• Bulgarian: Ванку́вър m (Vankúvǎr)
• Burmese: ဗန်ကူးဗား (banku:ba:)
• Cherokee: ᏪᏂᎫᏪᎵ (weniguweli)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 溫哥華 / 温哥华 (wan¹ go¹ waa⁴, wan¹ go¹ waa^4-2)

  Mandarin: 溫哥華 / 温哥华 (zh) (Wēngēhuá)

• Czech: Vancouver (cs) m
• Danish: Vancouver
• Dutch: Vancouver n
• Esperanto: Vankuvero
• Estonian: Vancouver
• Finnish: Vancouver (fi)
• French: Vancouver (fr) f
• Georgian: ვანკუვერი (vanḳuveri)
• German: Vancouver (de) n
• Greek: Βανκούβερ (el) (Vankoúver), Βανκουβέριο n (Vankouvério)
• Gujarati: વાનકુવર (vānkuvar)
• Halkomelem: lhq’á:lets
• Hebrew: וַנְקוּבֶר (vankuver)
• Hindi: वैंकूवर (va͠ikūvar)
• Hungarian: Vancouver (hu)
• Irish: Vancúbhar m
• Jamaican Creole: Vangkuuva
• Japanese: ヴァンクーヴァー (Vankūvā), バンクーバー (Bankūbā)
• Kannada: ವ್ಯಾಂಕೋವರ್ (vyāṅkōvar)
• Kazakh: Ванкувер (Vankuver)
• Khmer: វែនឃូវើ (vɛɛnkhuuvəə), វ៉ាន់ខូវឺ (vankhouvɨɨ)
• Korean: 밴쿠버 (baenkubeo)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ڤانکۆڤەر (ckb) (vankover)

• Kyrgyz: Ванкувер (Vankuver)
• Latin: Vancuverium n
• Latvian: Vankūvera
• Lithuanian: Vankuveris
• Macedonian: Ванку́вер m (Vankúver)
• Malayalam: വാൻകൂവർ (vāṉkūvaṟ)
• Marathi: व्हँकूव्हर (vhĕṅkūvhar)
• Mongolian: Ванкувер (Vankuver)
• Nepali: भ्यानकुभर (bhyānakubhar)
• Norwegian: Vancouver
• Persian: ونکوور (vankuver)
• Polish: Vancouver (pl)
• Portuguese: Vancouver
• Punjabi: ਵੈਨਕੂਵਰ (vainkūvar)

  Western Punjabi: وینکوور (venkovr)

• Romanian: Vancouver
• Russian: Ванку́вер (ru) m (Vankúver)
• Sinhalese: වැන්කුවර් (wænkuwar)
• Spanish: Vancouver (es)
• Squamish: kʼemkʼemeláy̓
• Swedish: Vancouver
• Tamil: வான்கூவர் (vāṉkūvar)
• Telugu: వాంకోవర్ (vāṅkōvar)
• Thai: แวนคูเวอร์ (wɛɛn-kuu-wə̂ə)
• Turkish: Vancouver (tr)
• Turkmen: Wankuwer
• Ukrainian: Ванку́вер m (Vankúver)
• Urdu: وینکوور (venkūvar)
• Uyghur: ۋانكۇۋېر (wankuwër)
• Uzbek: Vankuver
• Vietnamese: Vancouver
• Zhuang: Vwnhgohvaz

References

• The True Meaning of Vancouver, Joseph Jones, Vancouver Sun, 1994-12-31, which in turn cites Woordenboek der Noord — en Zuidnederlandse plaatsnamen

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English Vancouver.

Pronunciation

• (France) IPA^(key): /vɑ̃.ku.vɛʁ/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /vã.ku.vaɛ̯ʁ/

Proper noun

Vancouver f

1. Vancouver (a seaport, the largest city in British Columbia, Canada)
2. Vancouver (a city, the county seat of Clark County, Washington, United States)

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English Vancouver.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /vɐ̃ˈku.veʁ/ [vɐ̃ˈku.veh]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /vɐ̃ˈku.veʁ/ [vɐ̃ˈku.veh]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /vɐ̃ˈku.veɾ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /vɐ̃ˈku.veʁ/ [vɐ̃ˈku.veχ]
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /vɐ̃ˈku.veɻ/

Proper noun

Vancouver m or f

1. Vancouver (a seaport, the largest city in British Columbia, Canada)
2. Vancouver (a city, the county seat of Clark County, Washington, United States)

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /banˈkubeɾ/ [bãŋˈku.β̞eɾ]
• Rhymes: -ubeɾ
• Syllabification: Van‧cou‧ver

Proper noun

Vancouver f

1. Vancouver (a seaport, the largest city in British Columbia, Canada)
2. Vancouver (a city, the county seat of Clark County, Washington, United States)