Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
San Juan

San Juan

29 2.6
A city that is the capital and largest in Puerto Rico
  • proper noun
  • /sæn wɑn/
: San Juan (Puerto Rico)
  • In the distance, the modern-day buildings of San Juan can be seen.
  • San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • San Juan metropolitan area
  • San Juan metropolitan

I was cooked today, dude, and I had to drive to San Juan to get my passport.

Examples

  • Rivera was born on July 20, 1994, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Dominican parents.

    Blog text (25)

  • One night in San Juan, Max and Gin stayed at the Casa Blanca.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • You two fly down to San Juan.

    25th Hour (2002)

  • We're leaving for San Juan tonight.

    Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster (1965)

  • Buenaventura landed in the port of San Juan in July.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Old San Juan is an island, connected to the mainland by several causeways.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • The focus groups conducted in San Juan gave a glimpse of the thoughts of different social classes in Puerto Rico.

    Academic text (1991)

  • The large coastal population centers of Mayaguez and San Juan are especially susceptible to this earthquake-related phenomenon.

    Academic text (1993)

  • WE’LL BE IN SAN JUAN, BACK IN CIVILIZATION.

    Captain Ron (1992)

  • We're leaving for San Juan tonight to enjoy the beautiful beaches.

Surface Forms

San Juan main

Morphology

San + Juan

This is a toponym (place name) whose referent is arbitrary: knowing 'San' (Saint) and 'Juan' (John) might suggest the name means 'Saint John' but does not allow a learner to infer that it denotes the capital and largest city of Puerto Rico. Proper names and place names are not compositionally informative about specific referents, so the MWE’s full meaning is not derivable from its parts.

Etymology

San Juan comes from Spanish: San means 'Saint' and Juan means 'John'. Spanish explorers named the place for 'Saint John', and the name stayed with the city.