Etymology

Australasia

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Today it means: Synonym of Oceania: A continental region composed of the islands of the central and southern Pacific Ocean, principally divided into Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.. Full definition →

French Australasie
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The story

  1. French · borrowed fromAustralasie
  2. English todayAustralasia

Borrowed from French Australasie, coined by French scholar and politician Charles de Brosses in 1756, from the Latin for “south of Asia”. By surface analysis, Austral- + Asia.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.