Meanings
- The capital city of Somalia.
Rotting corpses lay in the open and explosions shook Mogadishu on Sunday for a fifth day of fighting between insurgents and allied Somali-Ethiopian troops that have killed at least 230 people.
2007 April 22, en, “Somalian government tells Mogadishu residents to flee”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 12 Apr 2021Synonyms: Xamar
- metonymicallyThe government of Somalia.
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounThe capital city of Somalia.
Origin
Uncertain; may be a compound term of Somali words "muuq" (appearance) + "disho", present subjunctive form of dil (beat / kill). Another proposal is that its borrowed from Arabic مَقَدِيشُو (maqadīšū), from Classical Persian مَقْعَد (maq'ad, “seat”) + شَاه (šāh, “shah, king”), literally “seat of the shah”.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans Mogadisjoe
- Mogadisjoecapital city of Somalia
Arabic مَقَدِيشُو, مَقْدِيشُو
- مَقَدِيشُو (maqadīšū)capital city of Somalia
- مَقْدِيشُو (maqdīšū)capital city of Somalia
Bengali মকদীশু
- মকদীশু (mokdiśu)capital city of Somalia
Bulgarian Могади́шу
- Могади́шу (Mogadíšu)capital city of Somalia
Chinese Mandarin 摩加迪休, 摩加迪沙
- 摩加迪休 (Mójiādíxiū)capital city of Somalia
- 摩加迪沙 (Mójiādíshā)capital city of Somalia
Czech Mogadišo
- Mogadišocapital city of Somalia
Danish Mogadishu
- Mogadishucapital city of Somalia
Dutch Mogadishu
- Mogadishucapital city of Somalia
Esperanto Mogadiŝo
- Mogadiŝocapital city of Somalia
Estonian Muqdisho
- Muqdishocapital city of Somalia
Finnish Mogadishu
- Mogadishucapital city of Somalia
French Mogadiscio
- Mogadisciocapital city of Somalia
German Mogadischu
- Mogadischucapital city of Somalia
Greek Μογκαντίσου
- Μογκαντίσου (Mogkantísou)capital city of Somalia
Hebrew מוֹגָדִישׁוֹ
- מוֹגָדִישׁוֹ (mugadishu)capital city of Somalia
Hindi मोगादीशू
- मोगादीशू (mogādīśū)capital city of Somalia
Hungarian Mogadishu
- Mogadishucapital city of Somalia
Icelandic Mógadisjú
- Mógadisjúcapital city of Somalia
Indonesian Mogadishu
- Mogadishucapital city of Somalia
Irish Mogaidisiú
- Mogaidisiúcapital city of Somalia
Italian Mogadiscio
- Mogadisciocapital city of Somalia
Japanese モガディシュ
- モガディシュ (Mogadishu)capital city of Somalia
Korean 모가디슈
- 모가디슈 (Mogadisyu)capital city of Somalia
Latin Mogadīscium
- Mogadīsciumcapital city of Somalia
Latvian Mogadīšo
- Mogadīšocapital city of Somalia
Lithuanian Mogadišas
- Mogadišascapital city of Somalia
Malay Mogadishu
- Mogadishucapital city of Somalia
Norwegian Bokmål Mogadishu
- Mogadishucapital city of Somalia
Persian موگادیشو
- موگادیشو (mogâdišu)capital city of Somalia
Polish Mogadiszu
- Mogadiszucapital city of Somalia
Portuguese Mogadixo, Mogadíscio
- Mogadixocapital city of Somalia
- Mogadísciocapital city of Somalia
Romanian Mogadishu
- Mogadishucapital city of Somalia
Russian Могади́шу, Могади́шо
- Могади́шу (Mogadíšu)capital city of Somalia
- Могади́шо (Mogadíšo)capital city of Somalia
Slovak Mogadišo
- Mogadišocapital city of Somalia
Spanish Mogadiscio
- Mogadisciocapital city of Somalia
Swedish Mogadishu
- Mogadishucapital city of Somalia
Tagalog Mogadishu
- Mogadishucapital city of Somalia
Tamil முக்தீசூ
- முக்தீசூ (muktīcū)capital city of Somalia
Thai โมกาดิชู
- โมกาดิชู (moo-gaa-dì-chuu)capital city of Somalia
Turkish Mogadişu
- Mogadişucapital city of Somalia
Ukrainian Могаді́шо, Моґаді́шо
- Могаді́шо (Mohadíšo)capital city of Somalia
- Моґаді́шо (Mogadíšo)capital city of Somalia
Urdu موغادیشو
- موغادیشو (moġādīśū)capital city of Somalia
Vietnamese Mô-ga-đi-su
- Mô-ga-đi-sucapital city of Somalia
Yiddish מאָגאַדישו
- מאָגאַדישו (mogadishu)capital city of Somalia
Cite this entry
Mogadishu. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Mogadishu
“Mogadishu.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Mogadishu. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Mogadishu,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Mogadishu.
Source: Mogadishu on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.