Kimberley

K5I1M3B3E1R1L1E1Y4
UK/ˈkɪmbəli/Canada, US/ˈkɪmbɚli/

proper noun

The capital city of the Northern Cape, South Africa, noted for diamond mining.

OriginOld English cyne- →
Less commonScrabble 20
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Meanings

proper noun
  1. Any of several places:
    1. The capital city of the Northern Cape, South Africa, noted for diamond mining.
    2. The northernmost region in Western Australia.
    3. A locality in Meander Valley council area, Tasmania, Australia.
    4. A city in southeast British Columbia, Canada.
    5. A small village and civil parish in South Norfolk district, Norfolk, England (OS grid ref TG0704).
    6. A town and civil parish with a town council in Broxtowe borough, Nottinghamshire, England (OS grid ref SK4944).
    7. A rural area of Selwyn district, in central Canterbury, New Zealand.
  2. A habitational surname from Old English.
  3. A male given name transferred from the surname or place name (site of a battle in the Boer Wars).
  4. A female given name transferred from the surname, variant of Kimberly, popular in the 1960s and the 1970s.

    It will take some getting used to, a husband named Kim. She has known girls named Kim since she was a squirt in a sunsuit. Quite a few really. Kimberleys and plain Kims.

    1991, Don DeLillo, Mao II, Viking, →ISBN, page 16

Origin

  1. Old Englishcyne-“royal”
  2. EnglishKimberley

English place name "wood or clearing of Kyneburga (a seventh century female saint)", from Old English cyne- (“royal”) + burh (“fortress”) + lēah (“leigh, clearing”).

More words from Old English

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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