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Glite Dictionary
Gobi Desert

Gobi Desert

4 4.4
A large dry area in northern China and southern Mongolia with few plants and strong winds
  • proper noun
translation icon : Desierto de Gobi
  • "But the city of spectacular vistas freezes my buns on a blustery day in March, and wind from the Gobi Desert drives me along like the autumn leaves in Shelley."
  • Gobi Desert in Mongolia

Examples

  • Above, wind-blown ripples develop on the surface of the sand in the Gobi Desert, in Mongolia.

    Academic text (2003)

  • Last year, Murray and Sammons traced a dust storm in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia and discovered that dust particles found their way to the eastern United States in only two weeks.

    Academic text (2003)

  • I was thinking of a trip through the Gobi Desert.

    Death on the Nile (1978)

  • The Gobi Desert is the color of a camel.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • The lowest per capita availability is in the Gobi Desert, whereas northern and central areas have much greater resources.

    Academic text (2006)

  • Eleanore will show us the stunning scenery of the Gobi Desert, the festivals, and the lifestyle of the inhabitants.

    Academic text (2006)

  • "The tigers paved the way for the Silk Road," Driscoll says, "between the Himalayan plateau and the Mongolian Gobi Desert."

    Academic text (2010)

  • We haven't really colonized Antarctica, or the remote reaches of the Gobi Desert—so why would we colonize the Moon?

    Blog text (4)

  • I was thinking of a trip through the Gobi Desert.

  • For most of the creatures in the Gobi Desert, just staying alive is a challenge.

Synonyms

Gobi
vsGobi Desert
11 5.5

A large dry desert in northern China and southern Mongolia

is the full name form used in formal references for clarity

Surface Forms

Gobi Desert main

Morphology

Gobi + desert

The phrase is fully compositional: 'Gobi' (a named arid region) combined with 'desert' (a vast dry region) straightforwardly yields 'the desert called Gobi'. This place-name + noun pattern is cross-linguistically common and thus readily understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.

Etymology

Gobi Desert: The name Gobi Desert comes from the Mongolian word 'govi', which means 'waterless place' or 'desert'. So the parts Gobi and Desert point to dry, empty land, and that is why the name refers to the large dry area in northern China and southern Mongolia.