North Cotabato

1 6.5

A province in the south of the Philippines on the island of Mindanao

proper noun

: Cotabato del Norte

Tourists often visit North Cotabato to explore its natural attractions and cultural heritage.

Examples

The government launched new development projects in North Cotabato this year.
She spent her childhood in North Cotabato, surrounded by lush landscapes.
North Cotabato is beautiful.
I love North Cotabato!
She spent her childhood in North Cotabato, surrounded by lush landscapes.
The government launched new development projects in North Cotabato this year.
Tourists often visit North Cotabato to explore its natural attractions and cultural heritage.

Surface Forms

North Cotabato main

Morphology

North + Cotabato

This is a regular geographic naming pattern: combining 'North' with a place name signals the northern part of that place, so a learner who knows the constituents (or at least recognizes Cotabato as a place) can infer it refers to the northern region/province of Cotabato. The construction is compositional and cross-linguistically common, so the meaning is directly derivable from the parts.

Etymology

North Cotabato may come from an old local name like 'Kutawato', which people say meant 'stone fort' because 'kuta' means 'fort' and 'wato' means 'stone'. When the area was later split, North was added, so North Cotabato simply names the province in the northern part of the old Cotabato region.