Meanings
- historicalThe river Amazon.
From all the roaring Andes, huge descends / The mighty Orellana.
a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Summer”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC1 more example
But if we shall speake more of rivers, that great floud called by some the river of Amazons, by others Marañon, and by some the river of Orellana, which our Spaniards sailed in their discoveries, ought to blemish all the rest; and, in truth, I am in doubt whither I may tearme it a river or a sea.
1605, Joseph de Acosta, translated by Edward Grimston, History of the Indies - A surname.
- A province in Ecuador. Capital: Puerto Francisco de Orellana (or Coca).
Origin
Named for Francisco de Orellana (1511–46), Spanish explorer, who was the first to explore it in the 1540s.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
Orellana. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Orellana
“Orellana.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Orellana. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Orellana,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Orellana.
Source: Orellana on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.