Dictionary.com

Bab el Mandeb

[ bahb el -mahn-deb ]
/ ˌbɑb ɛl ˈmɑn dɛb /

noun

a strait between the Eritrea-Djibouti border area on the Horn of Africa and the southwestern tip of Yemen, connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. About 20 mi. (32 km) wide.

QUIZZES

CAN YOU GUESS THESE WORDS FROM AROUND THE US?

American English is not always as it appears to be ... get to know regional words in this quiz!
Question 1 of 10
A bet is synonymous with a wager, but what does it mean in New York?
Often it means something is impossible.
It’s another way to agree with someone.
It serves as an apology.
TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT
Also called Man·deb Strait [mahn-deb streyt] /ˈmɑn dɛb ˈstreɪt/ .

Origin of Bab el Mandeb

First recorded in 1790–95; from Arabic: literally, “Gate of Tears”

Words nearby Bab el Mandeb

babe in the woods, Babel, Babelism, Babelize, Babelized, Bab el Mandeb, Babel, Tower of, Baber, Babès-Ernst body, babesia, Babesia microti
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Example sentences from the Web for Bab el Mandeb

  • (a) It is “a phonetic corruption, perhaps a softening of the original word”; as Bab-el-mandel is a corruption of Bab-el-mandeb.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Slice 5|Various

  • The affair with the Bab-el-Mandeb squadron lasted only about two hours and a-half.

    Freeland|Theodor Hertzka

  • It lies in the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, and has proved the destruction of more than one fine vessel.

    In the grip of the Mullah|F. S. Brereton

  • Gate of Tears, the strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, so called from the shipwrecks frequent in it.

    The Nuttall Encyclopaedia|Edited by Rev. James Wood

British Dictionary definitions for Bab el Mandeb

Bab el Mandeb
/ (ˈbæb ɛl ˈmændɛb) /

noun

a strait between SW Arabia and E Africa, connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012