marco polo

/ˈmɑɹkoʊ ˈpoʊloʊ/

noun

A renowned traveler.

OriginLatin Marcus →
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Meanings

marco polo1

nounmarco polo (uncountable)
  1. alternativeuncountablegameAlternative form of Marco Polo.

Marco Polo2

nounMarco Polo (countable and uncountable, plural Marco Polos)

plural Marco Polos · alternative marco polo · alternative Marcopolo · alternative marcopolo

  1. countableA renowned traveler.

    Gene Hunt: Come on, then, Marco Polo. Which way? Sam Tyler: [consulting a blueprint] It's this way.

    2007 March 6, Julie Rutterford, Life on Mars, Season 2, Episode 3
    1 more example

    Ibn Battuta has inevitably been compared with him and has usually taken second prize as "the Marco Polo of the Muslim world" or "the Marco Polo of the tropics"

    2004, Ross E. Dunn, chapter 1, in The adventures of Ibn Battuta, a Muslim traveler of the fourteenth century, page 5
  2. uncountablegamesA hunting game—usually played in a swimming pool—where the seeker moves with closed eyes or blindfolded, finding the other players by calling "Marco" and reacting to the other players' replies of "Polo".

Origin

  1. LatinMarcus
  2. EnglishMarco Polo

After Marco Polo (1254–1324), Venetian merchant, whose travels were documented in a book that introduced Europeans to Central Asia and China. The Italian name is from Latin Marcus + Paulus.

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

marco polo. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/marco%20polo

MLA

“marco polo.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/marco%20polo. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “marco polo,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/marco%20polo.

Source: marco polo on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.