Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
Lake Urmia

Lake Urmia

7.4
A shallow salty lake in northwestern Iran between Tabriz and the Turkish border
  • proper noun
translation icon : Lago Urmia
  • The shrinking of Lake Urmia has become a major environmental concern in Iran.

Examples

  • Researchers are studying ways to restore water levels in Lake Urmia.

  • Many migratory birds depend on Lake Urmia as a vital stopover on their routes.

  • I visited Lake Urmia last summer.

  • Have you ever seen Lake Urmia?

  • Many migratory birds depend on Lake Urmia as a vital stopover on their routes.

  • Researchers are studying ways to restore water levels in Lake Urmia.

  • The shrinking of Lake Urmia has become a major environmental concern in Iran.

Synonyms

Urmia
vsLake Urmia
8.6

A shallow salty lake in northwestern Iran between Tabriz and the border with Turkey

includes the word for lake and so is explicit
Daryacheh-ye Orumiyeh
vsLake Urmia
9.9

A shallow salty lake in northwestern Iran near Tabriz and the border with Turkey

is the English version rather than the local form

Surface Forms

Lake Urmia main

Morphology

lake + Urmia

The noun 'lake' provides the semantic class (a body of water) and 'Urmia' is a place-name, so together they compositionally denote 'the lake called Urmia.' This naming pattern (place-name + geographic feature) is cross-linguistically common and readily understood by a B1 learner who knows both constituents.

Etymology

Lake Urmia gets its name from the nearby city Urmia, so people long ago simply called the water 'the lake of Urmia'. That's why the name reminds us that it is the large, shallow salt lake beside the city in northwestern Iran.