Nile

N1I1L1E1
/naɪl/

proper noun

A large river in Africa, usually considered to be the longest river in the world; its basin covers Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt, flowing north through Khartoum and Cairo into the Mediterranean Sea.

CommonScrabble 4

Meanings

proper noun(the) Nile

alternative obsolete Nilus

  1. A large river in Africa, usually considered to be the longest river in the world; its basin covers Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt, flowing north through Khartoum and Cairo into the Mediterranean Sea.

    A river you think so little about, you don’t even realize that’s not the Nile, this is the Nile.

    2016 March 6, “Special Districts”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 3, episode 4, via HBO
    1 more example

    The seven mouths of the Nile then, from east to west, are the Pelusian, the Mendesian, the Bucolic, the Sebennytic, the Saïtic, the Bolbitine, and the Canopic. Such is the account of Heredotus.

    1844, Pierre Henri Larcher, William Desborough Cooley, Larcher's notes on Herodotus
  2. A township in Ohio, United States, named after the river; in full, Nile Township, Scioto County, Ohio.
  3. A locality in Northern Midlands council area, eastern Tasmania, Australia.

Origin

  1. Ancient GreekΝεῖλος
  2. EnglishNile

From Ancient Greek Νεῖλος (Neîlos).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans Nyl, Nylrivier
  • Nylriver
  • Nylrivierriver
Ancient Greek Νεῖλος
  • Νεῖλος (Neîlos)river
Arabic اَلنِّيل
  • اَلنِّيل (an-nīl)river
Basque Nilo
  • Niloriver
Bengali নীলনদ
  • নীলনদ (nilonod)river
Bulgarian Нил
  • Нилriver
Catalan Nil
  • Nilriver
Chinese Mandarin 尼羅河 /尼罗河
  • 尼羅河 /尼罗河 (Níluó hé)river
Czech Nil
  • Nilriver
Danish Nilen
  • Nilenriver
Dutch Nijl
  • Nijlriver
Esperanto Nilo
  • Niloriver
Estonian Niilus
  • Niilusriver
Finnish Niili
  • Niiliriver
French Nil
  • Nilriver
German Nil
  • Nilriver
Greek Νείλος
  • Νείλος (Neílos)river
Hebrew נִילוּס, יְאוֹר
  • נִילוּס (nilus)river
  • יְאוֹר (y'ór)river
  • שיחור \ שִׁחוֹר (shikhór)river
  • נְהַר מִצְרַיִם (n'har mitsráyim)river
Hindi नील
  • नील (nīl)river
Hungarian Nílus
  • Nílusriver
Icelandic Níl
  • Nílriver
Indonesian Nil
  • Nilriver
Irish An Níl
  • An Nílriver
Italian Nilo
  • Niloriver
Japanese ナイル川
  • ナイル川 (Nairu-gawá)river
Korean 나일 강
  • 나일 강river
Latin Nīlus
  • Nīlusriver
Latvian Nīla
  • Nīlariver
Lithuanian Nilas
  • Nilasriver
Malay Nil
  • Nilriver
Norwegian Bokmål Nilen
  • Nilenriver
Persian نیل
  • نیل (nil)river
Polish Nil
  • Nilriver
Portuguese Nilo
  • Niloriver
Punjabi ਨੀਲ
  • ਨੀਲ (nīl)river
Romanian Nil
  • Nilriver
Russian Нил
  • Нилriver
Scottish Gaelic Nile
  • Nileriver
Slovak Níl
  • Nílriver
Spanish Nilo
  • Niloriver
Swedish Nilen
  • Nilenriver
Tagalog Nilo
  • Niloriver
Tamil நைல்
  • நைல் (nail)river
Thai แม่น้ำไนล์
  • แม่น้ำไนล์ (mɛ̂ɛ-náam-nail)river
Turkish Nil
  • Nilriver
Ukrainian Ніл
  • Нілriver
Vietnamese Nin, Nhĩ Lô
  • Ninriver
  • Nhĩ Lôriver
Welsh Nîl
  • Nîlriver

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with Nile

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

Nile. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Nile

MLA

“Nile.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Nile. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Nile,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Nile.

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