Levant
|Le-vant|
🇺🇸
/ləˈvænt/
🇬🇧
/ləˈvɑːnt/
east (rising sun)
Etymology
'Levant' originates from French, specifically the word 'levant', where 'levant' (the present participle of 'lever') meant 'rising' (i.e. the rising of the sun).
'Levant' was borrowed into English from French (Old/Middle French 'levant') in the 16th–17th centuries; the French term itself comes from Latin roots related to 'levare' ('to raise').
Initially it meant 'the direction where the sun rises' or simply 'the East', but over time it came to denote the eastern Mediterranean region as a geographic and historical area.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
a region of the eastern Mediterranean, commonly including modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Palestine and sometimes parts of Turkey and Cyprus.
Archaeologists study the long and diverse history of the Levant.
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Antonyms
Noun 2
historically, the lands on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean — often referring to territories of the Ottoman Empire in that area.
In the 18th century many European merchants were active in the ports of the Levant.
Synonyms
Last updated: 2025/09/12 15:26