Kuril Islands

American  

[koor-il ahy-luhnz, koo-reel] / ˈkʊər ɪl ˈaɪ lənz, kʊˈril /

plural noun

1. a chain of more than 55 small volcanic islands off the northeast coast of Asia, extending from northern Japan to the southern tip of Kamchatka: under Russian administration since Soviet invasion 1945, but subject to dispute, as with Japan’s ongoing claim to the four southernmost islands.

---

Kuril Islands British  

/ kʊˈriːl /

plural noun

1. Japanese name: Chishima.  a chain of 56 volcanic islands off the NE coast of Asia, extending for 1200 km (750 miles) from the S tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula to NE Hokkaido. Area: 14 990 sq km (6020 sq miles)

---

Etymology

Origin of Kuril Islands

First recorded in 1895–1900; from Russian Kuríl'skiye Ostrová, from Ainu kur “man”

Example Sentences

“Morton launched his last two torpedoes,” Mr. Clavin writes of a 1943 encounter off the Kuril Islands, somewhere between Russia and Japan.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 7, 2025

Defending against attacks on Sakhalin Island and the southern Kuril Islands — claimed by both Russia and Japan — was among the objectives of the drills.

From Washington Times • Apr. 20, 2023

The Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a September report that overshadowed by the invasion of Ukraine, Moscow's militarisation of the Kuril Islands "has flown largely under the radar."

From Reuters • Dec. 6, 2022

The Russian military has deployed coastal defense missile systems near the Kuril Islands, a Pacific chain also claimed by Japan.

From Washington Post • Dec. 2, 2021

And then the Aleutian and Kuril Islands make a sort of breakwater to head off big bergs.

From The Boy With the U. S. Life-Savers by Rolt-Wheeler, Francis