Tierra Firme

proper noun

A former province of Spain, spanning some of the northern South American mainland.

OriginSpanish Tierra Firme →
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

proper noun
  1. historicalA former province of Spain, spanning some of the northern South American mainland.

    As he approached Bogotá, the capital of the most powerful Chibcha kingdom, he encountered two other Spanish expeditions, both of which had penetrated the hinterland of Tierra Firme from different points on the Caribbean coast […].

    1992, Edwin Williamson, The Penguin history of Latin America, London; New York: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 31

Origin

  1. SpanishTierra Firme
  2. EnglishTierra Firme

Borrowed from Spanish Tierra Firme (literally “mainland, terra firma”).

More words from Spanish

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Tierra Firme. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Tierra%20Firme

MLA

“Tierra Firme.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Tierra%20Firme. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Tierra Firme,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Tierra%20Firme.

Source: Tierra Firme on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.