Sahara

See also: sahara, Sàhara, Sahāra, and Saharą

English

Alternative forms

• Zaara (obsolete)

Etymology

From Arabic صَحَارَى (ṣaḥārā, “deserts”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /səˈhɑːɹə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /səˈhɑɹə/, /səˈhɛɹə/
• Rhymes: -ɑːɹə, -ɛəɹə

Proper noun

the Sahara

1. A desert in North Africa and the largest hot desert in the world.

   Synonym: Zaara

   Coordinate term: Nubian Desert

Derived terms

• Saharan
• Sahara pump theory
• Saharo-
• sub-Sahara

Translations

desert

• Afrikaans: Sahara
• Albanian: Sahara f (indefinite), Saharaja f (definite)
• Amharic: ሰሐራ (säḥära)
• Arabic: الصَّحْرَاء الْكُبْرَى f (aṣ-ṣaḥrāʔ al-kubrā)
• Armenian: Սահարա (Sahara)
• Azerbaijani: Böyük Səhra
• Basque: Sahara
• Belarusian: Саха́ра f (Saxára)
• Bengali: সাহারা (śahara)
• Bulgarian: Саха́ра f (Sahára)
• Burmese: ဆဟာရ (hca.hara.)
• Catalan: Sàhara (ca) m
• Cherokee: ᏌᎭᏩ (sahawa)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 撒哈拉 (zh) (Sāhālā, Sǎhālā)

• Czech: Sahara (cs) f
• Danish: Sahara c
• Dutch: Sahara (nl) f
• Esperanto: Saharo
• Estonian: Sahara (et)
• Faroese: Sahara m
• Finnish: Sahara (fi)
• French: Sahara (fr) m
• Galician: Sáhara (gl) m
• Georgian: საჰარა (sahara)
• German: Sahara (de) f
• Greek: Σαχάρα (el) f (Sachára)
• Hebrew: סָהָרָה f (sahara)
• Hindi: सहारा (hi) m (sahārā)
• Hungarian: Szahara (hu)
• Icelandic: Sahara f
• Ido: Sahara (io)
• Indonesian: Gurun Sahara
• Irish: An Sahára f
• Italian: Sahara (it) m
• Japanese: サハラ (ja) (Sahara)
• Kannada: ಸಹಾರ (sahāra)
• Kazakh: Сахара (Saxara)
• Khmer: សាហារ៉ា (saahaaraa)
• Korean: 사하라 (ko) (Sahara)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: Sahara

• Kyrgyz: Сакар (Sakar)
• Lao: ຊາຮາລາ (sā hā lā), ຊາຮາຣາ (sā hā rā)
• Latin: Sahāra f
• Latvian: Sahāra f
• Lithuanian: Sachara f
• Macedonian: Саха́ра f (Sahára)
• Malay: Gurun Sahara
• Malayalam: സഹാറ (sahāṟa)
• Maltese: Saħara f
• Marathi: सहारा (sahārā)
• Mirandese: Sahara m
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: Сахарын цөл (Saxaryn cöl)

• Nepali: सहारा (sahārā)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: Sahara m

  Nynorsk: Sahara m

• Pashto: د افریقا صحرا f
• Persian: صحرای بزرگ (sahrâ-ye bozorg), صحرای بزرگ آفریقا (sahrâ-ye bozorg-e âfriqâ)
• Polish: Sahara (pl) f
• Portuguese: Saara (pt) m, Sara (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਸਹਾਰਾ (pa) (sahārā)
• Romanian: Sahara f
• Russian: Саха́ра (ru) f (Saxára)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Са̀хара f

  Roman: Sàhara (sh) f

• Slovak: Sahara (sk) f
• Slovene: Sahara (sl) f
• Somali: Saxara
• Spanish: Sáhara (es) m, Sahara (es) m
• Swahili: Sahara
• Swedish: Sahara (sv) c
• Tagalog: Sahara
• Tajik: Саҳрои бузург (Sahro-yi buzurg)
• Tamil: சகாரா (cakārā)
• Telugu: సహారా (sahārā)
• Thai: ซาฮารา (saa-haa-raa)
• Turkish: Büyük Sahra (tr)
• Turkmen: Sahara
• Ukrainian: Саха́ра f (Saxára)
• Urdu: صَحْرائے اَعْظَم m (sahrā-e a'zam)
• Uyghur: سەھرايى كەبىر (sehrayi kebir)
• Uzbek: Sahroi Kabir
• Vietnamese: Xa-ha-ra
• Yiddish: סאַהאַראַ f (sahara)

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈsaɦara]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ara

Proper noun

Sahara f (relational adjective saharský)

1. Sahara (desert)

Declension

Declension of Sahara (sg-only hard feminine)

	singular
nominative	Sahara
genitive	Sahary
dative	Sahaře
accusative	Saharu
vocative	Saharo
locative	Sahaře
instrumental	Saharou

Derived terms

• subsaharský

Further reading

• “Sahara”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “Sahara”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “Sahara”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

Dutch

Etymology

From Arabic صَحْرَاء (ṣaḥrāʔ, “desert”).

The area was named after the desert because its construction necessitated the use of a lot of sand to build up a foundation.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɑˈɦaː.raː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Sa‧ha‧ra

Proper noun

Sahara n

1. Sahara
2. a neighbourhood of Wageningen, Gelderland, Netherlands
3. a neighbourhood of Enschede, Overijssel, Netherlands

References

• van Berkel, Gerard, Samplonius, Kees (2018) “sahara”, in Nederlandse plaatsnamen verklaard‎^[1] (in Dutch), Mijnbestseller.nl, →ISBN

Finnish

Etymology

< Arabic صَحَارَى (ṣaḥārā)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɑhɑrɑ/, [ˈs̠ɑ̝ɦɑ̝rɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -ɑhɑrɑ
• Syllabification^(key): Sa‧ha‧ra
• Hyphenation^(key): Sa‧ha‧ra

Proper noun

Sahara

1. the Sahara

Declension

Inflection of Sahara (Kotus type 12/kulkija, no gradation)
nominative		Sahara	—
genitive		Saharan	—
partitive		Saharaa	—
illative		Saharaan	—
		singular	plural
nominative		Sahara	—
accusative	nom.	Sahara	—
	gen.	Saharan
genitive		Saharan	—
partitive		Saharaa	—
inessive		Saharassa	—
elative		Saharasta	—
illative		Saharaan	—
adessive		Saharalla	—
ablative		Saharalta	—
allative		Saharalle	—
essive		Saharana	—
translative		Saharaksi	—
abessive		Saharatta	—
instructive		—	—
comitative		See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of Sahara (Kotus type 12/kulkija, no gradation)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative Saharani — accusative nom. Saharani — gen. Saharani genitive Saharani — partitive Saharaani — inessive Saharassani — elative Saharastani — illative Saharaani — adessive Saharallani — ablative Saharaltani — allative Saharalleni — essive Saharanani — translative Saharakseni — abessive Saharattani — instructive — — comitative — — second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative Saharasi — accusative nom. Saharasi — gen. Saharasi genitive Saharasi — partitive Saharaasi — inessive Saharassasi — elative Saharastasi — illative Saharaasi — adessive Saharallasi — ablative Saharaltasi — allative Saharallesi — essive Saharanasi — translative Saharaksesi — abessive Saharattasi — instructive — — comitative — — first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative Saharamme — accusative nom. Saharamme — gen. Saharamme genitive Saharamme — partitive Saharaamme — inessive Saharassamme — elative Saharastamme — illative Saharaamme — adessive Saharallamme — ablative Saharaltamme — allative Saharallemme — essive Saharanamme — translative Saharaksemme — abessive Saharattamme — instructive — — comitative — — second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative Saharanne — accusative nom. Saharanne — gen. Saharanne genitive Saharanne — partitive Saharaanne — inessive Saharassanne — elative Saharastanne — illative Saharaanne — adessive Saharallanne — ablative Saharaltanne — allative Saharallenne — essive Saharananne — translative Saharaksenne — abessive Saharattanne — instructive — — comitative — — third-person possessor singular plural nominative Saharansa — accusative nom. Saharansa — gen. Saharansa genitive Saharansa — partitive Saharaansa — inessive Saharassaan Saharassansa — elative Saharastaan Saharastansa — illative Saharaansa — adessive Saharallaan Saharallansa — ablative Saharaltaan Saharaltansa — allative Saharalleen Saharallensa — essive Saharanaan Saharanansa — translative Saharakseen Saharaksensa — abessive Saharattaan Saharattansa — instructive — — comitative — —

Derived terms

compounds

• Länsi-Sahara
• saharanantilooppi
• saharangaselli

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic صَحْرَاء (ṣaḥrāʔ, “desert”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sa.a.ʁa/
• Rhymes: -a

Proper noun

Sahara m

1. Sahara

   Synonym: désert du Sahara

   Hypernym: désert

   Holonym: Afrique

   Meronyms: désert de Libye, désert Libyque

Derived terms

• Sahara occidental
• saharien

Related terms

• Sahel

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic صَحَارَى (ṣaḥārā, “deserts”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /zaˈhaːʁa/

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

die Sahara f (proper noun, usually definite, definite genitive der Sahara)

1. Sahara (a desert in North Africa)

   Synonym: Saharawüste

Usage notes

• Sahara is feminine and takes the definite article die; compare English "the Sahara".
• Very occasionally, Sahara occurs without a definite article; in such cases a genitive Saharas may occur. In such usages, the gender is unclear.

Declension

Declension of Sahara [sg-only, feminine]

	singular
	def.	noun
nominative	die	Sahara
genitive	der	Sahara
dative	der	Sahara
accusative	die	Sahara

Meronyms

• Nordsahara, Ostsahara, Südsahara, Westsahara

Derived terms

• saharisch, Subsahara

Related terms

• Saharadurchquerung, Saharanomade, Saharasand, Saharastaub

Further reading

• “Sahara” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Sahara” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Sahara” in Duden online

Italian

Alternative forms

• Saara

Etymology

From Arabic صَحْرَاء (ṣaḥrāʔ, “desert”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /saˈa.ra/
• Rhymes: -ara
• Hyphenation: Sa‧hà‧ra

Proper noun

Sahara m

1. Sahara

Derived terms

• sahariano

Latin

Proper noun

Sahāra f sg (genitive Sahārae); first declension

1. (New Latin) Sahara (a major desert in North Africa)

Declension

First-declension noun, with locative, singular only.

	singular
nominative	Sahāra
genitive	Sahārae
dative	Sahārae
accusative	Sahāram
ablative	Sahārā
vocative	Sahāra
locative	Sahārae

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic صَحَارَى (ṣaḥārā).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /saˈxa.ra/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ara
• Syllabification: Sa‧ha‧ra

Proper noun

Sahara f

1. Sahara (a desert in Africa)

Declension

Declension of Sahara

	singular
nominative	Sahara
genitive	Sahary
dative	Saharze
accusative	Saharę
instrumental	Saharą
locative	Saharze
vocative	Saharo

Derived terms

adjective

• saharyjski

nouns

• Saharyjczyk
• Saharyjka

Further reading

• Sahara in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Proper noun

Sahara m

1. Pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1911 in Portugal) of Saara.

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sǎxara/
• Hyphenation: Sa‧ha‧ra

Proper noun

Sàhara f (Cyrillic spelling Са̀хара)

1. Sahara

Declension

Declension of Sahara

	singular
nominative	Sahara
genitive	Sahare
dative	Sahari
accusative	Saharu
vocative	Saharo
locative	Sahari
instrumental	Saharom

Spanish

Alternative forms

• Sáhara

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /saˈaɾa/ [saˈa.ɾa]
• IPA^(key): /saˈxaɾa/ [saˈxa.ɾa]
• Rhymes: -aɾa
• Syllabification: Sa‧ha‧ra

Proper noun

Sahara m

1. Sahara (desert)

Derived terms

• Sahara Occidental

Swahili

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic صَحَارَى (ṣaḥārā).

Pronunciation

• Audio (Kenya):

  (file)

Proper noun

Sahara

1. Sahara (desert)