San Rafael

/ˌsæn ɹəˈfɛl/

proper noun

A city, the county seat of Marin County, California, United States.

OriginSpanish San Rafael →
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

proper noun
  1. Any of several cities and places.
    1. A city, the county seat of Marin County, California, United States.

      When Jonathan Frieman of San Rafael, Calif., was pulled over for driving alone in the carpool lane, he argued to the officer that, actually, he did have a passenger. […] In an opinion piece posted to the San Rafael Patch site on May 14, 2011, Frieman broke down his argument.

      2013 January 5, Isodole Raftery, “California man says he can drive in carpool lane with corporation papers”, in NBC News, archived from the original on 13 Mar 2022
    2. A census-designated place in Cibola County, New Mexico, United States.
    3. A town in Chalatenango department, El Salvador.

Origin

  1. SpanishSan Rafael“Saint Raphael”
  2. EnglishSan Rafael

Borrowed from Spanish San Rafael (“Saint Raphael”).

More words from Spanish

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

Source: San Rafael on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.