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Glite Dictionary
East St. Louis

East St. Louis

3.0
A city in southwest Illinois, United States, on the east bank of the Mississippi River across from St. Louis, Missouri
  • proper noun
translation icon : East St. Louis
  • She was born in East St. Louis and moved to Chicago as a child.

Examples

  • Have you ever been to East St. Louis?

  • Economic development projects have brought new life to parts of East St. Louis.

  • The bridge connects East St. Louis to downtown St. Louis over the Mississippi River.

  • I visited East St. Louis last summer.

  • Cheryl Davis is a retired teacher who taught for 24 years in the East St. Louis school district.

  • Johnson moved to Charlotte from East St. Louis in 1977, drawn by the sunny South.

  • Miles Davis was born in Alton, Ill., and raised in East St. Louis, Illinois.

Synonyms

East Saint Louis
vsEast St. Louis
3.9

A city in southwest Illinois on the Mississippi River across from Saint Louis, Missouri

is written using the abbreviated form of the place name

Surface Forms

East St. Louis main

Morphology

East + St. + Louis

This is a place-name composed of the cardinal direction 'East' plus the place name 'St. Louis', so its meaning (the locality east of St. Louis) is directly derivable from the constituents; even the abbreviation 'St.' is commonly recognized as 'Saint' or part of a place name. Direction + place compounds are cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the parts will readily understand the MWE.

Etymology

East St. Louis is named because the town sits on the east side of the Mississippi River, right across from St. Louis in Missouri, so the name simply tells you where the city is.