Meanings
manhattan1
plural manhattans
- alternativeAlternative spelling of Manhattan (“cocktail”).
Manhattan2
alternative manhattan
- An indigenous people of North America who lived in present day New York State.
- A borough of New York City, New York, United States, mainly on Manhattan Island; in full, Borough of Manhattan.
Near-synonyms: New York County, County of New York (coterminous)
2 more examples
Holonyms: New York < New York < United States < North America < Earth, World
Meronyms: Harlem, Upper West Side, Upper East Side, Lower East Side, Madison Avenue, Wall Street, World Trade Center, Battery
Synonyms: New York County, County of New York
- An island of New York, United States; in full, Manhattan Island.
Lo, body and soul—this land, / My own Manhattan with spires, and the sparkling and hurrying tides, and the ships, / The varied and ample land, the South and the North in the light, Ohio’s shores and flashing Missouri, / And ever the far-spreading prairies cover’d with grass and corn.
1865, Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, in Sequel to Drum-Taps: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d and other poems1 more example
Adam Gopnik has, by many accounts, including his own, a lovely life. A longtime staff writer for the New Yorker and bestselling author, Gopnik lives in Manhattan with his wife, Martha, a film-maker, and their two children, and he moves in the kind of circles that allow him to drop casual lines into conversation such as: “As John Updike once said to me …”, although he has the nervy Jewish self-consciousness to follow that with “… if you’ll forgive the namedrop.”
2017 December 8, Hadley Freeman, “Adam Gopnik: ‘You’re waltzing along and suddenly you’re portrayed as a monster of privilege’”, in The Guardian - A number of places in the United States:
- A ghost town in Larimer County, Colorado, United States.
- An unincorporated community in Manatee County, Florida, United States.
- A township in Will County, Illinois, United States.
- A village in Will County, Illinois, United States.
- An unincorporated community in Putnam County, Indiana, United States.
- A city, the county seat of Riley County, Kansas, United States.
- A town in Gallatin County, Montana, United States.
- An unincorporated community in Nye County, Nevada, United States.
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounA borough of New York City, New York, United States, mainly on Manhattan Island; in full, Borough of Manhattan.
Origin
- Munseemunahan
- Unamimënatay“island”
- EnglishManhattan
From the earlier form Manna-hata recorded by Dutch travelers and settlers, from its name in Unami, the local Algonquian language. The name generally understood to be a compound of Unami mënatay (“island”) or Munsee munahan (compare Abenaki manahan) with another element. According to a report by John Heckewelder, the name is connected to a wooded area whose trees were suitable for making bows. Linguist Ives Goddard explains the early forms Manna-hatta(n) and Mannahachtink as spellings of Munsee manaháhtaan (“place for gathering the wood to make bows”) and its related locative form manaháhteenk. This interpretation breaks down the word as a compound of manah- (“gather”) + -aht (“bow”) + -aan (“place”).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian Манхатън, манхатън
- Манхатън (Manhatăn)borough
- манхатън (manhatăn)cocktail
Chinese Cantonese 曼克頓 /曼克顿, 曼赫頓 /曼赫顿
- 曼克頓 /曼克顿 (maan⁶ hak¹ deon⁶)borough
- 曼赫頓 /曼赫顿borough
- 曼克頓 /曼克顿 (maan⁶ hak¹ deon⁶)tribe
- 曼赫頓 /曼赫顿tribe
- 曼克頓 /曼克顿 (maan⁶ hak¹ deon⁶)cocktail
- 曼赫頓 /曼赫顿cocktail
Chinese Mandarin 曼哈頓 /曼哈顿, 曼赫頓 /曼赫顿
- 曼哈頓 /曼哈顿 (Mànhādùn)borough
- 曼赫頓 /曼赫顿borough
- 曼哈頓 /曼哈顿 (Mànhādùn)tribe
- 曼赫頓 /曼赫顿tribe
- 曼哈頓 /曼哈顿 (Mànhādùn)cocktail
- 曼赫頓 /曼赫顿cocktail
Esperanto Manhatano
- Manhatanoborough
Finnish Manhattan, manhattan
- Manhattanborough
- manhattantribe
- manhattancocktail
French Manhattan
- Manhattanborough
Greek Μανχάταν
- Μανχάταν (Manchátan)borough
Italian Manhattan
- Manhattanborough
Japanese マンハッタン
- マンハッタンborough
Korean 맨해튼
- 맨해튼 (maenhaeteun)borough
Russian Манхэ́ттен, манхэ́ттен
- Манхэ́ттен (Manxɛ́ttɛn)borough
- манхэ́ттен (manxɛ́ttɛn)tribe
- манхэ́ттен (manxɛ́tten)cocktail
Tamil மதுக்கலவை
- மதுக்கலவை (matukkalavai)cocktail
Turkish Manhattan
- Manhattanborough
Vietnamese Manhattan, Mã Nhật Tân
- Manhattanborough
- Mã Nhật Tânborough
Yiddish מאַנהעטן
- מאַנהעטן (manhetn)borough
Cite this entry
manhattan. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/manhattan
“manhattan.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/manhattan. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “manhattan,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/manhattan.
Source: manhattan on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.