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Glite Dictionary
Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls

1 3.6
A very large, famous waterfall on the Zambezi River between Zimbabwe and Zambia
  • proper noun
translation icon : Cataratas Victoria
  • Many trips to Botswana start in Zimbabwe at Victoria Falls.

Lizzo went to Victoria Falls, Post Malone went right to Mount Everest.

Examples

  • A family of warthogs lives on the grounds of the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge and provides many photo opportunities.

    Academic text (1999)

  • Lizzo went to Victoria Falls, Post Malone went right to Mount Everest.

    Late Night with Seth Meyers

  • Are there any animals at Victoria Falls?

    Academic text (1999)

  • The Devil's Pool is the reason that I traveled almost two days starting at 12 a.m. to Victoria Falls.

    Blog text (2)

  • Click here to see more pictures of the Victoria Falls and check out the top 5 section for more things to do at the Victoria Falls and around the world.

    Blog text (2)

  • Click here to see more pictures of the Victoria Falls and check out the top 5 section for more things to do at the Victoria Falls and around the world.

    Blog text (2)

  • Swimming at the edge of the Devil's Pool: Victoria Falls, Zambia.

    Blog text (2)

  • They nicknamed it Victoria Falls.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Many trips to Botswana start in Zimbabwe at Victoria Falls.

  • Victoria Falls was one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

Surface Forms

Victoria Falls main

Morphology

Victoria + falls

This is a place name formed from the proper name 'Victoria' plus 'falls' (a waterfall), so a learner who knows 'falls' as a waterfall and recognizes 'Victoria' as a name can directly infer it denotes a specific large waterfall. The naming pattern (Name + Falls, e.g. Niagara Falls) is common cross-linguistically, making the meaning immediately recoverable from the constituents.

Etymology

Victoria Falls was named by the explorer David Livingstone in 1855 when he gave the name Victoria for the queen and called the great falling water Falls after he saw its huge spray and heard it roar. That's why today Victoria Falls means the large, famous waterfall on the Zambezi River, and local people also call it 'Mosi-oa-Tunya', meaning 'the smoke that thunders'.