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🏝️ Antigua capital 🇨🇦 Canadian city
St. John's

St. John's

1 2.8
Capital city and main port of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, on the island's east coast
  • proper noun
translation icon : San Juan
  • The annual festival in St. John's attracts visitors from all over Canada.

Examples

  • I love exploring the historic streets of St. John's and learning about its maritime history.

  • First, I get the St. John's law degree.

    Household Saints (1993)

  • Gregory Bateson at St. John's College

    Academic text (2005)

  • St. John's was a center of "the spirit of the Liberal rentiers."

    Academic text (2005)

  • The year after the war ended, Martin Bateson enrolled at St. John's and began studying zoology.

    Academic text (2005)

  • There are also regular direct flights from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Ft. McMurray, Alberta.

    Blog text (33)

  • I'M GETTING MARRIED AT ST. JOHN'S ON CHAPEL STREET IN DOWNTOWN WESTPORT.

    The Four-Faced Liar (2010)

  • During my visit to St. John's, I was amazed by the stunning coastal views.

Synonyms

Saint John's
vsSt. John's
3.4

The capital city and main port of Newfoundland in eastern Canada

is the shortened or abbreviated written form of the same name

Surface Forms

St. John's main

Morphology

St. + John's

The form 'St. John's' clearly signals a toponym built from 'Saint' + 'John' so a learner who knows those constituents will recognize it as a place or name derived from a saint (cross-linguistically common: e.g. San Juan, São João). However, the detailed referent — that it is the capital and major port of Newfoundland and Labrador — is encyclopedic and cannot be deduced from the words alone, so the expression is only partially predictable.

Etymology

The city name St. John's may come from sailors who reached the harbour on Saint John's 'feast day' and named the place for the saint. That name stuck to the town and port, so today the city is still called St. John's.