Kwajalein

English

Etymology

From German Kwajalein, from Marshallese Kuwajleen.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkwɑːd͡ʒəlɪn/

Much less common pronunciations include /ˈkwɑːd͡ʒəˌliːn/, /ˈkwɑːd͡ʒəˌleɪn/ or /ˈkwɑːd͡ʒəˌlaɪn/. These are all very scarce among the atoll's English-speaking residents. American English is usually spoken by Kwajalein island's American expatriate population, which has the father-bother merger; for accents without this merger (including Received Pronunciation), /ˈkwɒd͡ʒəlɪn/ is a possible realization. This is not technically wrong, because the aforementioned father-bother merger makes this pronunciation indistinguishable from /ˈkwɑːd͡ʒəlɪn/. Indeed, the name of Kwajalein island's primary hotel, the Kwaj Lodge, is a wordplay on Kwaj and lodge rhyming.

Proper noun

Kwajalein

1. Kwajalein atoll.
2. Kwajalein island, Kwajalein atoll.

Derived terms

• Kwaj

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Marshallese Kuwajleen.

Proper noun

Kwajalein

1. Kwajalein (an atoll in the Marshall Islands)
2. Kwajalein (an island in Kwajalein atoll, in the Marshall Islands)

Descendants

• → English: Kwajalein