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Glite Dictionary
Wilkes Land

Wilkes Land

1 8.3
A coastal region of Antarctica south of Australia that borders the Indian Ocean and that Australia claims
  • proper noun
: Wilkes Land
  • The research team established a base on Wilkes Land to study climate change.

Examples

  • Most of Wilkes Land remains covered by thick ice throughout the year.

  • Australia claims sovereignty over Wilkes Land in Antarctica.

  • I want to visit Wilkes Land!

  • Is Wilkes Land cold?

  • Australia claims sovereignty over Wilkes Land in Antarctica.

  • Most of Wilkes Land remains covered by thick ice throughout the year.

  • The research team established a base on Wilkes Land to study climate change.

Surface Forms

Wilkes Land main

Morphology

Wilkes + land

Although 'Wilkes' is a proper name with no independent lexical meaning, the compound follows the common English pattern NAME + land, which straightforwardly signals a geographic area named after someone. A B1 learner who knows 'land' and recognizes 'Wilkes' as a name will therefore infer it refers to a place or territory (even if they cannot identify its exact location).

Etymology

Wilkes Land comes from American explorer Charles Wilkes, who sailed near that part of Antarctica in the 1800s. People named the land after him, so today Wilkes Land means the coastal region he helped map.