Guatemala City
- proper noun
- /ˌɡwɑːtəˈmɛlə ˈsɪti/
- The main airport in Guatemala is located near Guatemala City, making it a central hub for travelers.
Examples
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At the same time, the vendor is receiving credit from Chinese wholesalers in Guatemala City.
Academic text (1990) -
The Guatemalans, who trained in mile-high Guatemala City, also beat the Cubans in the 1,500, 5,000, and 10,000 meters and made their only non-relay points in those runs.
Academic text (1994) -
I was born in Guatemala City.
Fiction book (1999) -
Cycling became very popular, and in 1896 there were already five hundred cyclists in Guatemala City.
Academic text (1994) -
Guatemala City is seen as a dangerous place to live, full of thieves and urban guerrillas.
Academic text (1990) -
At this time, soccer and baseball activity existed only in Guatemala City, Quezaltenango, and a few other locations.
Academic text (1994) -
A series of earthquakes began on Christmas Day of 1917, and by early January 1918, Guatemala City was heavily damaged.
Academic text (1994) -
The town and lake of Amatitlan lie about thirty kilometers south of Guatemala City, and a huge crowd from the city traveled by train, auto, carriage, motorcycle, and bicycle to attend the race.
Academic text (1994) -
The Temple of Minerva in Guatemala City was inaugurated in 1901, and by 1915 there were twenty-two others.
Academic text (1994) -
As a prelude to greater involvement in international multi-sport competition, a group of Mexican athletes traveled to Guatemala City in January 1923 for soccer, basketball, and tennis matches.
Academic text (1994)
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'the city in Guatemala' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'Guatemala' (the country) with 'city' (an urban area). This country+city naming pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows straightforward compositional semantics, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will understand the MWE.
Etymology
Guatemala City comes from Guatemala, a word in an old native language meaning 'place of many trees' because early people saw large forests there. So Guatemala City is the country's 'capital' and its name reminds us of that tree-filled land.