Mekong

American  

[mey-kong, ma-kohng] / ˈmeɪˈkɒŋ, mæˈkoʊŋ /

noun

1. a river whose source is in SW China, flowing SE along most of the boundary between Thailand and Laos to the South China Sea. 2,600 miles (4,200 km) long.

---

Mekong British  

/ ˌmiːˈkɒŋ /

noun

1. a river in SE Asia, rising in SW China in Qinghai province: flows southeast forming the border between Laos and Myanmar, and part of the border between Laos and Thailand, then continues south across Cambodia and Vietnam to the South China Sea by an extensive delta, one of the greatest rice-growing areas in Asia. Length: about 4025 km (2500 miles)

---

Example Sentences

Producing rare earths requires heavy chemicals and can produce toxic waste, with cases including illegal operations polluting Mekong tributaries in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia with arsenic and cadmium.

From Barron's • Apr. 22, 2026

Several major deltas are experiencing especially rapid elevation loss, including those of the Mekong, Nile, Chao Phraya, Ganges-Brahmaputra, Mississippi, and Yellow rivers.

From Science Daily • Apr. 20, 2026

On one trip she rented a boat for a party on the Mekong River.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 8, 2025

That means they are also imperiling some of the world’s most important food-producing lowlands in the Nile and Mekong deltas and cities from Shanghai to New York.

From Salon • Jul. 28, 2025

In December, Meng tells me we will relocate to Long Deang to live on a houseboat with one of Eang’s sisters and her family in the lower end of the Mekong Delta.

From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung