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Yemen

[yem-uh n, yey-muh n]
noun
  1. Republic of, a country in S Arabia, formed in 1990 by the merger of the Yemen Arab Republic and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen. 207,000 sq. mi. (536,130 sq. km). Capital: (political) Sanʿa. Capital: (economic) Aden.
  2. Also called North Yemen. a former country in SW Arabia: since 1990 a part of the Republic of Yemen. Capital: Sanʿa.
  3. Also called South Yemen. a former country in S Arabia: since 1990 a part of the Republic of Yemen. Capital: Aden.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
British Dictionary definitions for north yemen

North Yemen

noun
  1. a former republic in SW Arabia, on the Red Sea; now part of Yemen; declared a republic in 1962; united with South Yemen in 1990Official name: Yemen Republic See also Yemen, South Yemen

Yemen

noun
  1. a republic in SW Arabia, on the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden: formed in 1990 from the union of North Yemen and South Yemen: consists of arid coastal lowlands, rising to fertile upland valleys and mountains in the west and to the Hadhramaut plateau in the SE: the north and east contains part of the Great Sandy Desert. Official language: Arabic. Official religion: Muslim. Currency: riyal. Capital: San`a. Pop: 25 408 288 (2005 est). Area (including territory claimed by Yemen along the undemarcated eastern border with Saudi Arabia): 472 099 sq km (182 278 sq miles)Official name: Yemen Republic See also North Yemen, South Yemen
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
Word Origin and History for north yemen

Yemen

southwestern region of Arabia, from Arabic Yemen, literally "the country of the south," from yaman "right side" (i.e., south side, if one is facing east). The right side regarded as auspicious, hence Arabic yamana "he was happy," literally "he went to the right," and hence the Latin name for the region in Roman times, Arabia Felix, lit, "Happy Arabia."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
north yemen in Culture

Yemen

Now the Republic of Yemen. Yemen is at the mouth of the Red Sea, in the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the east; formerly divided into North Yemen (the Yemen Arab Republic) and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen.

Note

Northern Yemen became an independent country after World War I.

Note

Southern Yemen won independence from Britain in 1967 and became the world's only communist Arab state.

Note

The two Yemens were reunified as a result of the democratic reforms of the Soviet Union and its satellite countries in 1990.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.