Meanings
alternative Salonika
- historicalSynonym of Thessaloniki: a port city, the capital of Central Macedonia, in northern Greece.
1 more example
Sleeping-car passengers, however, will know little of their entry into Greece until, at 6 a.m. on the third morning after leaving Paris, the short train runs over the Vardar plain, with dawn glimpses of Mount Athos to the east and of cloud-capped Olympus across the gulf to the south, past the rebuilt yard and into the new passenger station at Salonica.
1951 November, 'Pausanias', “To Greece by the "Simplon-Orient Express"”, in Railway Magazine, page 731Synonyms: Thessaloniki
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounSynonym of Thessaloniki: a port city, the capital of Central Macedonia, in northern Greece.
Origin
- GreekΣαλονίκη
- Ottoman Turkishسلانیك
- Ancient GreekΘεσσαλονίκη
- Medieval GreekΣαλονίκη
- Medieval LatinSalonica
- EnglishSalonica
From Medieval Latin Salonica, from Medieval Greek Σαλονίκη (Saloníkē), clipping of Ancient Greek Θεσσαλονίκη (Thessaloníkē), named for Thessalonike daughter of Philip II, half-sister of Alexander the Great, and wife of Cassander of Macedonia, from Θεσσᾰλός (Thessălós, “Thessalian”) + νῑ́κη (nī́kē, “victory”), possibly named for her birth on the anniversary of the Battle of Crocus Field. Sometimes parsed as a clipping within English of Thessalonica. Originally and still chiefly as a calque of Ottoman Turkish سلانیك (Selânik); now with occasional reference to modern Greek Σαλονίκη (Saloníki).
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Cite this entry
Salonica. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Salonica
“Salonica.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Salonica. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Salonica,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Salonica.
Source: Salonica on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.