Meanings
- archaicSynonym of Ryukyu (“island chain”).
The captain of the schooner told me also that he was going to Ponape and the Liukiu Islands, then he would return directly home.
2009 [1898], Jenichiro Oyabe, “Wandering on the South Sea”, in Greg Robinson, Yujin Yaguchi, editors, A Japanese Robinson Crusoe, Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 82–831 more example
YAMEN MINISTERS. We have only heard of the Formosan savages plundering and killing the people of Liukiu, but never heard of their attacking Japanese. Liukiu is a Chinese territory, and Chinese officers rescued and sent home to Liukiu such of them as could escape from the savages. JAPANESE MINISTER. Liukiu has always belonged to Japan. During the feudal ages it was a dependency of the Prince of Satsuma, and is now under the direct rule of the Imperial Government. Hence, there is not a person of Liukiu who is not a Japanese subject, entitled to the protection of the Japanese Government. You say you have rescued the Liukiu people, but what have you done towards chastising the Formosan savages that have plundered and killed the rest ?
1904, Alfred Stead, editor, Japan by the Japanese, William Heinemann, →OCLC, page 162Synonyms: Ryukyu
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounSynonym of Ryukyu (“island chain”).
Cite this entry
Liukiu. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Liukiu
“Liukiu.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Liukiu. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Liukiu,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Liukiu.
Source: Liukiu on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.