Meanings
- A region of Africa, along the border between Egypt and Sudan, currently considered as terra nullius. It is declared by Egypt to be Sudanese and Sudan to be Egyptian, and claimed by neither country.
1 more example
In practice, Bir Tawil is widely believed to have the legal status of terra nullius – “nobody’s land” – and there is nothing else quite like it on the planet. […] Their ties to the area may be based on traditional rather than written claims – but Bir Tawil is not any more a “no man’s land” than the territory once known as British East Africa, where terra nullius was repeatedly invoked in the early 20th century by both chartered companies and the British government that supported them to justify the appropriation of territory from indigenous people.
2016 March 3, Jack Shenker, “Welcome to the land that no country wants”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 06 Apr 2020Synonyms: Bir Tawil Triangle
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounA region of Africa, along the border between Egypt and Sudan, currently considered as terra nullius. It is declared by Egypt to be Sudanese and Sudan to be Egyptian, and claimed by neither country.
Origin
- Arabicبِير طَوِيل
- EnglishBir Tawil
Borrowed from Arabic بِير طَوِيل (bīr ṭawīl) or بِئْر طَوِيل (biʔr ṭawīl, literally “tall water well”).
More words from Arabic
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Bir Tawil. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Bir%20Tawil
“Bir Tawil.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Bir%20Tawil. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Bir Tawil,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Bir%20Tawil.
Source: Bir Tawil on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.