North Borneo

1 7.6

The old name for the northern part of Borneo now called Sabah in Malaysia

proper noun

: Borneo del Norte

Tourists visiting North Borneo today will find it referred to as Sabah.

Examples

During the colonial era, North Borneo was administered by the British North Borneo Company.
Oil palm plantations have transformed the landscape of North Borneo over the past fifty years.
I traveled to North Borneo last summer.
Did you know that North Borneo is now called Sabah?
During the colonial era, North Borneo was administered by the British North Borneo Company.
Oil palm plantations have transformed the landscape of North Borneo over the past fifty years.
Tourists visiting North Borneo today will find it referred to as Sabah.

Synonyms

Sabah

vsNorth Borneo

2 5.5

A state in Malaysia on the northern part of Borneo with rainforests and islands

is the older historical name for that same northern region

Surface Forms

North Borneo main

Morphology

North + Borneo

The compound 'North Borneo' is directly compositional: 'north' (a direction/region) plus 'Borneo' (the island) signals the northern part of Borneo, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer this meaning. This geographic naming pattern (North + place) is cross-linguistically common and not idiomatic, even though it refers to a historical/former name (now Sabah).

Etymology

North Borneo was the name used when the British ran the northern part of the island of Borneo. The word north points to its location on the map and Borneo names the island, and today that area is called 'Sabah'.