Red Sea

American  

noun

1. an arm of the Indian Ocean, extending northwest between Africa and Arabia: connected to the Mediterranean by the Suez Canal. 1,450 miles (2,335 kilometers) long; 170,000 square miles (440,300 square kilometers); greatest depth, 7,254 feet (2,211 meters).

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Red Sea British  

noun

1. a long narrow sea between Arabia and NE Africa, linked with the Mediterranean in the north by the Suez Canal and with the Indian Ocean in the south: occasionally reddish in appearance through algae. Area: 438 000 sq km (169 000 sq miles)

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Red Sea Cultural  

1. Narrow sea between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

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Discover More

According to the Bible (see also Bible), the Red Sea's waters parted to allow the Israelites, led by Moses, to escape the pursuing Egyptian army. The “Red Sea” of the biblical account, however, seems more likely to have been the marshy Sea of Reeds than the present-day Red Sea.

Probably named for the red algae that are sometimes present in its waters.

Etymology

Origin of Red Sea

Translation of Latin Mare Rubrum, from Greek Erythrà Thálassa “Red Sea,” a translation of Hebrew Yam Sūph “Sea of Reeds.” The reason for Erythrà (Thálassa) is unknown; perhaps Erythrà refers to seasonal blooms of red algae on the on the surface of the water, or to ancient associations of “red” with “south,” (as “black” with “north,” as in “Black Sea”)

Example Sentences

The East-West Pipeline in Saudi Arabia takes oil from fields in the east of the kingdom to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, which is on the kingdom’s west coast.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 15, 2026

The kingdom’s oil exports, now routed to the Red Sea, would be at risk if the Bab al-Mandeb was closed.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026

Iraq—heavily reliant on the critical waterway—suffered the steepest decline, followed by Saudi Arabia, though the kingdom managed to reroute flows through the Red Sea.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026

The Saudis are pumping oil that would normally be exported through the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz through a pipeline to their Red Sea ports, where it can be shipped to Asia.

From BBC • Apr. 9, 2026

She did not need the Red Sea to part, or for ten plagues to descend upon them.

From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny