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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.

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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.

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Nubia British  

/ ˈnjuːbɪə /

noun

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

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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

See Examples For:

nubia Nubia

So we’ll keep all the human beings together,” Asher said, as he helped his wife to fasten her heavy cloak and tie a long old-fashioned nubia about her head.

From Winning the Wilderness by Marchand, J. N.

Symes shoved up the shade to see the lovely Pearline Starr, with her head tied in a nubia, fighting her way through his front gate.

From The Lady Doc by Lockhart, Caroline

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 Gates, Eleanor

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 Freeman, Mary Eleanor Wilkins

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 Gale, Zona

"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

"On the whole, it seems probable," says H. H. Johnston, "that the Hausa speech was shaped by a double influence: from Egypt, and Hamiticized Nubia, as well as by Libyan immigrants from across the Sahara."

From Man, Past and Present by Haddon, Alfred Court