ava

A1V4A1
UK/ɑː.və/US, UK/ˈeɪvə//ˈɑːvə/

proper noun

A female given name from Hebrew, a variant of Eva.

Less commonScrabble 6

Meanings

ava1

nounava (uncountable)
  1. alternativeuncountableAlternative form of kava.

    […] the schooners plying up the coast for wood and ava and bananas.

    1891, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Bottle Imp
    1 more example

    In the Tonga Islands , the ava root, when dry, is split up into small pieces with an axe or other sharp instrument

    1859, James Finlay Weir Johnston, The Chemistry of Common Life

Ava2

proper noun
  1. A female given name from Hebrew, a variant of Eva.

    Ava Haynes, the oldest daughter, was a warm friend of Lillie Calhoun, whom she soon sought and led quickly into the conservatory.

    1881, Mary E. Jackson, The Spy of Osawatomie; or, The Mysterious Companions of Old John Brown, W.S.Bryan, page 57
    1 more example

    My mother named me Ava because she liked how the English letters looked - the big A a beak pointed upward, the v a sharp slash of wings, the small a round and flat as a parrot's eye.

    2004, Gayle Brandeis, The Book of Dead Birds: A Novel, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 5
  2. A female given name from Irish, an anglicization of Aoife.
  3. A female given name from the Germanic languages, from a Germanic root *avi of uncertain meaning.
  4. A locale in the United States.

Ava3

proper noun

alternative Awa · alternative Inwa · alternative Innwa

  1. historicalAn abandoned city in central Burma, formerly the capital of the country.
  2. A town and hamlet therein, in Oneida County, New York, United States; named for the Kingdom of Ava.

AVA4

nounAVA (countable and uncountable, plural AVAs)

plural AVAs

  1. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablebeveragesInitialism of American Viticultural Area: a designated wine grape-growing region in the United States, providing an official appellation for the mutual benefit of wineries and consumers.
  2. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableanatomyInitialism of arteriovenous anastomosis.

Origin

Ava · proper noun

From Portuguese, from the Upper Burmese pronunciation of အင်းဝ (ang:wa. /⁠ăwá⁠/).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Thai อังวะ
  • อังวะ (ang-wá)city in Myanmar

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with ava

All rhymes →

Sounds the same

aver (noun sense, RP)
Cite this entry
APA

ava. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ava

MLA

“ava.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ava. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ava,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ava.

Source: ava on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.