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  • nubia
    nubia
    noun
    a light, knitted woolen head scarf for women.
  • Nubia
    Nubia
    noun
    a region in southern Egypt and the Sudan, north of Khartoum, extending from the Nile to the Red Sea.

nubia

1 American  
[noo-bee-uh, nyoo-] / ˈnu bi ə, ˈnju- /

noun

  1. a light, knitted woolen head scarf for women.


Nubia 2 American  
[noo-bee-uh, nyoo-] / ˈnu bi ə, ˈnju- /

noun

  1. a region in southern Egypt and the Sudan, north of Khartoum, extending from the Nile to the Red Sea.

  2. Kingdom of Nubia, an ancient state in Nubia, 2000 b.c.–a.d. 1400.

  3. Lake Nubia. Lake Nassar.


Nubia British  
/ ˈnjuːbɪə /

noun

  1. an ancient region of NE Africa, on the Nile, extending from Aswan to Khartoum

"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

Etymology

Origin of nubia1

1855–60; < Latin nūb ( ēs ) a cloud + -ia

Origin of Nubia2

First recorded in 1650–60; from Medieval Latin Nuba, Nubia, from Latin Nuba (singular), Nubae (plural), Nubaeī (from Greek Noûbai, Noubaîoi, the name of a people in southern Egypt and northern Sudan; further origin obscure; possibly from Egyptian nwb “gold”) + -ia noun suffix

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Young Lucretia's face, with very pink cheeks, and smooth lines of red hair over the temples, looked gayly and honestly out of the hood and nubia.

From Young Lucretia and Other Stories by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman

In a low chair before the open window sat the widow knitting a blue and white nubia.

From Macaria by Augusta J. (Augusta Jane) Evans

Her mother stood with her back turned toward the raw April wind as they talked, her old nubia tied loosely about her head and neck, and her hands red with the cold.

From The Wind Before the Dawn by Dell H. Munger

She walked forward to lay her mittens on the table before she brushed the snow from her shoulders and leggings and untwisted and shook out her nubia.

From The Biography of a Prairie Girl by Eleanor Gates

But from under the wide, battered felt that had supplanted the nubia, his eyes shone with no resentment, only fatherly tenderness.

From The Plow-Woman by Eleanor Gates

"A new era of AI agent smartphones begins," Nubia said, sharing images of the handsets online.

From Barron's Jul. 19, 2026

Nubia Diaz, an attorney for Mancillas, said her client “has always maintained his innocence.”

From Los Angeles Times Nov. 21, 2025

Nubia Delatorre, 19, said she is proud to be a member of the second female platoon in Bravo Company, but admits the men and women do not interact very much.

From Seattle Times Oct. 8, 2023

Scholars tend to study ancient Egypt as a part of the Mediterranean world, with cultural and political links to Greece and Rome, as well as with Nubia, which roughly coincides with modern-day Sudan.

From New York Times Jun. 18, 2023

His earlier years seem to have been occupied in asserting his power in Syria, and his later years were devoted to Nubia.

From The Old Testament In the Light of The Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia by Theophilus Goldridge Pinches

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