South Asia

American  

[south ey-zhuh, ey-shuh] / ˈsaʊθ ˈeɪ ʒə, ˈeɪ ʃə /

noun

1. the countries and land area of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, India, the Maldives, Nepal, and Pakistan.

---

Other Word Forms

• South Asian adjective

Etymology

Origin of South Asia

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

A significant share of global web traffic passes through the Strait via undersea cables, largely servicing countries in the Gulf and South Asia.

From Barron's • Apr. 12, 2026

With supermarkets selling food from the Middle East and South Asia and restaurants offering dishes like Mandi chicken, a beloved Yemeni dish, many Australian immigrants feel at home here.

From BBC • Mar. 20, 2026

Depending on the destination, Europeans make up a large share of visitors, followed by tourists from South Asia, the Americas, and other Middle Eastern countries.

From Barron's • Mar. 5, 2026

There is flex capacity for coal available in South Asia, which has opened new plants for the commodity recently, they say.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 5, 2026

Almost forty species of cotton exist worldwide, of which four have been domesticated, two in the Americas, two in the Middle East and South Asia.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann