Advertisement

Advertisement

Bab el Mandeb

[ bahb el mahn-deb ]

noun

  1. 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.


Bab el Mandeb

/ ˈbæb ɛl ˈmændɛb /

noun

  1. 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


Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of Bab el Mandeb1

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

Example Sentences

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

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

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

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

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


BabelizedBabel, Tower of