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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:

Preparatory to ascending to the trapeze Alfred unwound the nubia from his waist, casting it on the ground.

From Watch Yourself Go By by Ben W. Warden

Lacking wilder excitement Madame sat by a lamp knitting a nubia.

From Kincaid's Battery by Alonzo Kimball

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

She wound a long red scarf about her neck and swathed her head in the gray nubia.

From Winning the Wilderness by J. N. Marchand

And I saw that she was wearing a skirt made of a man's plaid shawl, and about her shoulders was a rosy, old-fashioned nubia.

From Friendship Village by Zona Gale

Smartphone maker Nubia unveiled its NaviX Ultra, a phone powered by Doubao, China's massively popular AI chatbot tool run by TikTok creator ByteDance.

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

It was in the three hundred and sixty-third year of the reign of Ra-Harmakhis on earth, when he fled from the rebels who had risen against him in Nubia and had landed at Edfu.

From The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia by A. H. (Archibald Henry) Sayce

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