Yucatan Peninsula
1
3.2
- proper noun
- /ˈjuːkəˌtæn pəˈnɪnˌsuːlə/
:
Península de Yucatán
- Aguirre bases his novel on actual historical events, recorded in New World chronicles, about a group of Spaniards who shipwreck on Mayan territory in the Yucatan Peninsula near the turn of the sixteenth century.
- the northern Yucatan Peninsula
Examples
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His nose was buried in a map of the Yucatan Peninsula, his thoughts on Gamay, and only when he felt the plane bank did he break his concentration to see where they were.
Fiction book (1999) -
Regions of the lower Gulf Coast of Mexico, the southern parts of the Yucatan Peninsula, lower Panama, and the eastern slopes of the Andes, among others, have retained the humanly modified regrowth forests into modern times, though most of the regions are currently under heavy use.
Academic text (1992) -
On the wall were topographic maps of the Yucatan Peninsula, site photographs, and drawings of Mayan carvings.
Fiction book (1999) -
Thousands of tons were shipped each year from the salt beds of the northern Yucatan Peninsula to communities throughout the lowlands, and from the Pacific estuaries to localities in the highlands.
Academic text (1991) -
The great salt flats of the northern Yucatan Peninsula and the saline estuaries of the Pacific provided salt, which the Maya began to collect more than 2,300 years ago.
Academic text (1991) -
The eye of the storm was expected to cross the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula on Tuesday night.
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Dangerous and deadly Hurricane Dean actually made landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula.
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Facing the Gulf of Mexico at the country's slender southern tip, the Yucatan Peninsula includes the states of Yucatan, Campeche, and Quintana Roo.
Synonyms
9
4.1
A peninsula in southeast Mexico that reaches into the Gulf of Mexico
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a straightforward place name combining the proper noun 'Yucatan' with the noun 'peninsula'; if a learner knows 'Yucatan' as a landmass and 'peninsula' as land mostly surrounded by water, they can infer it refers to the Yucatan landmass that is a peninsula. This compositional geographic logic is cross-linguistically common and therefore immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner who knows the constituents.
Etymology
Yucatan Peninsula may get its name from an old story: when Spanish explorers asked the local Maya people the name of this place, the locals replied with a phrase that sounded like Yucatan and meant 'I don't understand', so the word stuck. Peninsula means land with water on three sides, so the name now refers to that large piece of land in southeastern Mexico.