Tibet

See also: tibet and Tíbet

English

Definition 1&2.

Definition 3.

Alternative forms

• Thibet, Tebet (obsolete)

Etymology

Of unclear origin, but probably via Persian تبت‎ (tabbat, tobbat). In one proposed etymology the ultimate origin is Tibetan བོད (bod), used in the compound name sTod-bod (pronounced Tö-pöt), meaning “Upper Tibet”. In another proposal, the name comes via Mongolian Töpüt from an alteration of Old Turkic 𐱅𐰇𐰯𐰇‎ (töpü, “height, summit”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: tĭ-bĕt', tə-bĕt', IPA^(key): /tɪˈbet/, /təˈbet/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Proper noun

Tibet

1. The Tibetan Plateau, a plateau region in Central Asia, where the Tibetan people traditionally live, encompassing what is now Tibet Autonomous Region (also called Xizang), most of Qinghai, the western half of Sichuan, a small part of Yunnan and a small part of Gansu in the People's Republic of China, and also the country of Bhutan, and the Indian regions of Sikkim and Ladakh.

   Synonyms: Tibetan Plateau, Tibet Plateau

   • [1693, Robert Morden, “Of China”, in Geography Rectified; or a Description of the World‎^[2], 3rd edition, page 439:

     The Province of Xenſi extends to the Kingdom of Preſter John. Caſcar and Thebet, which the Chineſes in a general Name call Sifan it is a large Province, and is divided into eight Counties, having one hundred and eighty Cities: Sigan is the Metropolis of the whole, ſeated on the River Guei, in a moſt pleaſant and delightful place, of a noble Proſpect, and good Trade.]

   • 1959 February 4, Peter Roberts, Formosa Rallies In Support Of Tibet Rebels (1959)‎^[3], British Pathé, 0:00 from the start:

     A giant rally on Formosa reflects the worldwide concern for Tibet's heroic rebels. Speaking to sixty-thousand people in Taipei, President Chiang Kai-shek says Tibet's resistance foreshadows a vast anti-communist uprising on the mainland of China.

2. An independent kingdom that formerly existed in Central Asia.

   Synonyms: The Hermit Kingdom, Hermit Kingdom

3. A common shorthand name for Tibet Autonomous Region, previously mostly coterminous with the independent portion of Tibet until 1950.

   Synonyms: Tibet Autonomous Region, Xizang

Usage notes

In Tibetan, བོད (bod, “Bod”) properly refers to the entire plateau region that is translated to English as Tibet or Tibetan Plateau, of which Tibet Autonomous Region (西藏自治區／西藏自治区 (Xīzàng Zìzhìqū)) only forms one part. In international media, Tibet is often used as the shorthand name for Tibet Autonomous Region entity. In modern Chinese of the People's Republic of China, 西藏 (Xīzàng) refers to Tibet Autonomous Region (including Arunachal Pradesh administered by India), but is named after Tibetan དབུས་གཙང (Dbus-gtsang or Ü-Tsang), one of the traditional provinces of Tibet that includes the capital Lhasa. Today in the complex politics surrounding Tibet, the use of Tibet for the entire plateau can be offensive to Chinese people particularly in the People's Republic of China, while the use of Tibet exclusively for Tibet Autonomous Region can be offensive to Tibetan people. Additionally, when the term Tibetan Plateau is used consistently instead of Tibet to refer to བོད (bod), it can also be considered insensitive to Tibetan people.

Derived terms

• Greater Tibet
• Inner Tibet
• Outer Tibet
• South Tibet
• Tibetan
• Tibetan Empire
• Tibetan Plateau
• Tibet Autonomous Region

 

Translations

region in Inner Asia

• Amharic: ቲቤት (tibet)
• Arabic: التِّبِت‎ m (at-tibit), تُبَّت‎ m (tubbat) (archaic)
• Armenian: Տիբեթ (Tibetʿ)
• Belarusian: Тыбе́т m (Tybjét), Тыбэ́т m (Tybét)
• Bengali: তিব্বত (tibbôt)
• Breton: Tibet (br)
• Bulgarian: Тибе́т m (Tibét)
• Burmese: တိဗက် (ti.bak)
• Catalan: Tibet (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 西藏 (sai³ zong³), 吐蕃 (tou³ bo³) (historically)

  Mandarin: 西藏 (zh) (Xīzàng), 吐蕃 (zh) (Tǔbō) (historically)

  Min Nan: 西藏 (zh-min-nan) (Se-chōng)

• Czech: Tibet (cs) m
• Danish: Tibet
• Dutch: Tibet (nl) n
• Estonian: Tiibet
• Finnish: Tiibet (fi)
• French: Tibet (fr) m
• Georgian: ტიბეტი (ka) (ṭibeṭi)
• German: Tibet (de) n
• Greek: Θιβέτ (el) n (Thivét)
• Hebrew: טיבט‎ (tibet)
• Hindi: तिब्बत (hi) m (tibbat), भोट (hi) m (bhoṭ)
• Hungarian: Tibet (hu)
• Interlingua: Tibet
• Irish: An Tibéid f
• Italian: Tibet m
• Japanese: チベット (ja) (Chibetto), 西蔵 (せいぞう, Seizō)
• Korean: 티베트 (Tibeteu), 시짱 (Sijjang), 서장 (ko) (Seojang) (西藏 (ko))
• Latvian: Tibeta f
• Lithuanian: Tibetas (lt) m
• Macedonian: Ти́бет m (Tíbet)
• Manchu: ᠸᠠᡵᡤᡳ
  ᡯᠠᠩ (wargi dzang), ᡯᠠᠩ (dzang), ᡨᡠ᠋ᠪᡝᡨ (tu᠋bet), ᡨᠠᠩᡤᡡᡨ (tanggūt)
• Maori: Tepete
• Marathi: टिबेट (ṭibeṭ)

• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: Төвөд (Tövöd)

  Mongolian: ᠲᠥ᠋ᠪᠡᠳ (töbed), ᠪᠠᠷᠠᠭᠤᠨ
  ᠲᠥ᠋ᠪᠡᠳ (baraɣun töbed) (historically), ᠲᠠᠩᠭᠤᠳ (tangɣud) (historically)

• Nepali: तिब्बत (tibbat)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: Tibet

  Nynorsk: Tibet

• Occitan: Tibet (oc) m
• Old Turkic: 𐱅𐰇𐰯𐰇𐱅‎ (Tüpüt)
• Persian: تبت‎ (fa) (tebbet, tabbat)
• Polish: Tybet (pl) m
• Portuguese: Tibete (pt) m
• Romanian: Tibet n
• Russian: Тибе́т (ru) m (Tibét), Сицза́н m (Siczán)
• Salar: Tüvit, Tüyit, Tiut
• Sanskrit: भोट (sa) m (bhoṭa), भोटः (sa) m (bhoṭaḥ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Тибет m

  Roman: Tibet (sh) m

• Sherpa: please add this translation if you can
• Sinhalese: ටිබෙට් (ṭibeṭ)
• Slovak: Tibet m
• Slovene: Tibet (sl) m
• Southern Altai: Тӧбӧт (Töböt)
• Spanish: Tíbet m
• Swedish: Tibet (sv)
• Tagalog: Tibet
• Thai: ทิเบต (tí-bèet)
• Tibetan: བོད (bod)
• Tuvan: Төвүт (Tövüt), Тангыт (Tangıt), Таңғат (Tañғat) (Soyot-Dukhan dialect)
• Ukrainian: Тибе́т m (Tybét)
• Uyghur: تىبەت‎ (tibet), شىزاڭ‎ (shizang), Tangghit
• Vietnamese: Tây Tạng (西藏 (vi))
• Volapük: Tibätän (vo)
• Written Oirat: ᡐᡈᡋᡈᡑ (Töböd)
• Zhuang: Sihcang

shorthand for the Tibet Autonomous Region

• Arabic: شِيزَانْغ‎ m (šīzānḡ), التِّبِت‎ m (at-tibit)
• Bengali: তিব্বৎ (tibbôt)
• Burmese: ဦစံး (ucam:)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 西藏 (sai¹ zong⁶)

  Mandarin: 西藏 (zh) (Xīzàng)

  Min Nan: 西藏 (zh-min-nan) (Se-chōng)

• Czech: Tibet (cs) m
• Danish: Tibet
• Finnish: Tiibet (fi)
• Georgian: ტიბეტი (ka) (ṭibeṭi)
• Greek: Θιβέτ (el) n (Thivét)
• Hindi: तिब्बत (hi) m (tibbat), भोट (hi) m (bhoṭ)
• Hungarian: Tibet (hu), Hszicang
• Irish: An Tibéid f
• Japanese: 西蔵 (せいぞう, Seizō)
• Korean: 시짱 (Sijjang), 서장 (ko) (Seojang) (西藏 (ko))
• Latvian: Tibeta f
• Macedonian: Ти́бет m (Tíbet)

• Manchu: ᠸᠠᡵᡤᡳ
  ᡯᠠᠩ (wargi dzang)
• Marathi: टिबेट (ṭibeṭ)
• Mongolian: Төвөд (Tövöd)
• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: Tibet

  Nynorsk: Tibet

• Occitan: Tibet (oc) m
• Portuguese: Tibete (pt) m
• Russian: Сицза́н m (Siczán), Тибе́т (ru) m (Tibét)
• Swedish: Tibet (sv)
• Thai: ทิเบต (tí-bèet), ซีจ้าง
• Tibetan: དབུས་གཙང (dbus gtsang)
• Uyghur: شىزاڭ‎ (shizang)
• Vietnamese: Tây Tạng (西藏 (vi))
• Zhuang: Sihcang

References

• “Tibet”, in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary.
• “Tibet”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• “Tibet” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2021.

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Breton

Proper noun

Tibet

1. Tibet

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Catalan

Proper noun

Tibet m

1. Tibet

Derived terms

• tibetà

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Czech

Proper noun

Tibet m

1. Tibet

Derived terms

• Tibeťan
• tibetský

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Proper noun

Tibet n

1. Tibet

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French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Proper noun

Tibet m

1. Tibet

Derived terms

• Tibétain/Tibétaine
• tibétain/tibétaine

Anagrams

• bitte

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German

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

Tibet n (genitive Tibets)

1. Tibet

Related terms

• Thibet
• Tibetaner, Tibetanerin
• tibetanisch
• Tibeter, Tibeterin
• tibetisch
• Tibetisch

Further reading

• “Tibet” in Duden online

Anagrams

• bitte

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Interlingua

Proper noun

Tibet

1. Tibet

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Norwegian Bokmål

Proper noun

Tibet

1. Tibet (region and autonomous region)

Related terms

• tibetaner
• tibetansk

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Proper noun

Tibet

1. Tibet (region and autonomous region)

Related terms

• tibetanar
• tibetansk

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Romanian

Proper noun

Tibet n

1. Tibet

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Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tǐbet/
• Hyphenation: Ti‧bet

Proper noun

Tìbet m (Cyrillic spelling Тѝбет)

1. Tibet

Declension

Declension of Tibet

	singular
nominative	Tibet
genitive	Tibeta
dative	Tibetu
accusative	Tibet
vocative	Tibetu
locative	Tibetu
instrumental	Tibetem

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Turkish

Proper noun

Tibet

1. Tibet

Declension

declension of Tibet

	singular (tekil)	plural (çoğul)
nominative (yalın)	Tibet	-
definite accusative (belirtme)	Tibet'i	-
dative (yönelme)	Tibet'e	-
locative (bulunma)	Tibet'te	-
ablative (ayrılma)	Tibet'ten	-
genitive (tamlayan)	Tibet'in	-