Papua New Guinea
1
4.9
- proper noun
:
Papúa Nueva Guinea
- They are missionaries for Wycliffe, a Bible translation ministry, in Papua New Guinea.
Examples
-
A quick check of historical weather records for Papua New Guinea and Fiji confirmed my suspicion: I had observed the dimpled sea snakes during seasonal droughts.
Academic text (2009) -
Early in her career she set off to do field work in the Melanesian Islands of Papua New Guinea, north of Australia.
-
Paddle through remote islands in Papua New Guinea.
Blog text (17) -
The lush forests of Papua New Guinea, tuning in one night to the BBC World Service reveals, are another, with illegal logging fulfilling the demand.
Academic text (2008) -
A last example of how fruitful such advocacy can be is offered by Joshua Bell (2006), an anthropologist who works with people of the Purari Delta of Papua New Guinea.
Academic text (2008) -
Many tourists visit Papua New Guinea to experience its rich cultural diversity.
-
The capital of Papua New Guinea is Port Moresby, which is known for its vibrant markets.
-
After gaining independence in 1975, Papua New Guinea became a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
Synonyms
A country in the eastern half of New Guinea island in the southwest Pacific since 1975
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a compound toponym: a learner who knows 'Papua', 'new' and 'Guinea' can infer this refers to a geographic place (a 'new' form/region of Guinea associated with Papua) and thus recognize it as a country or region name. However, as a proper name it encodes specific political and geographic facts (e.g. the eastern half of the island, independence in 1975) that are not predictable from the constituents alone, so the transparency is only partial.
Etymology
Papua New Guinea gets its name from two old words: Papua comes from a Malay word for people with 'frizzy' hair, and New Guinea was what early European explorers called the island because they thought the people looked like people from 'Guinea' in West Africa. So the country's name combines a local word and an explorer's comparison and now names the island nation.