Borneo

American  

[bawr-nee-oh] / ˈbɔr niˌoʊ /

noun

1. an island in the Malay Archipelago, politically divided among Indonesia, Malaysia, and the British-protected sultanate of Brunei. 290,000 sq. mi. (750,000 sq. km).

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Borneo British  

/ ˈbɔːnɪˌəʊ /

noun

1. an island in the W Pacific, between the Sulu and Java Seas, part of the Malay Archipelago: divided into Kalimantan ( Indonesian Borneo ), the Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah, and the sultanate of Brunei; mountainous and densely forested. Area: about 750 000 sq km (290 000 sq miles)

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Borneo Cultural  

1. Island in Indonesia southwest of the Philippines and north of Java.

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Discover More

The third-largest island in the world, Borneo is mostly covered by dense jungle and rain forest.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Bornean
  adjective

Example Sentences

Professor Erik Meijaard, managing director of Borneo Futures in Brunei, is now studying the disasters' impact on the orangutans with the help of satellite images.

From BBC • Dec. 11, 2025

They were in Tanjung Puting Reserve—now a national park—on the island of Borneo.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 30, 2025

Borneo island has one of the world's largest tracts of rainforest and hosts orangutans, long-nosed monkeys, clouded leopards, pig-tailed macaques, flying fox bats and the smallest rhinos on the planet.

From Barron's • Oct. 21, 2025

Four closely related civets, a small nocturnal animal found in Africa and Asia, have made the same geographical area in the rainforests of Borneo home.

From Science Daily • Nov. 20, 2024

The next day, it invaded Burma; a few days later, British Borneo.

From "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand