azerbaijan

azerbaijan — noun

1. a nation lying where eastern Europe meets western Asia, with a long shoreline on

1.noun
Definition

a nation lying where eastern Europe meets western Asia, with a long shoreline on the Caspian Sea, sharing land borders with Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Iran; its capital is Baku.

Example

Omar flew to Azerbaijan last summer to visit his grandmother in Baku.

proper noun used without an article

The oil fields along the Caspian coast have made Azerbaijan an important energy producer.

subject of a sentence about geography or economy

Common collocations
  • the people of Azerbaijan
  • the Republic of Azerbaijan
  • northern Azerbaijan
  • across Azerbaijan

Grammar Patterns

proper noun, no article

Usage Note

Always capitalised and used without an article. The adjective and demonym is 'Azerbaijani' (people, language, food); 'Azeri' is sometimes used for the language and the largest ethnic group, but is now less preferred in formal writing.

Common Mistakes

I went to the Azerbaijan last year.
I went to Azerbaijan last year.
country names are proper nouns and take no article.
She speaks Azerbaijan at home.
She speaks Azerbaijani at home.
the country is 'Azerbaijan'; the language and people are 'Azerbaijani'.

Word family

  • Azerbaijani
    noun
  • Azerbaijani
    adjective
  • Azeri
    noun
  • Azeri
    adjective

Common collocations

Nouns

  • the people of Azerbaijan
  • the government of Azerbaijan
  • the Republic of Azerbaijan

Phrases

  • northern Azerbaijan
  • southern Azerbaijan
  • modern-day Azerbaijan

Prepositions

  • in Azerbaijan
  • from Azerbaijan
  • to Azerbaijan
  • across Azerbaijan

Etymology

Old PersianMiddle PersianArabicEnglish

The name is generally traced to 'Atropates', a Persian governor in the region around the 4th century BCE; the territory he ruled became known in Middle Persian as 'Aturpatakan', meaning 'land protected by fire', a phrase often linked to the area's ancient fire-temples and natural gas vents. Through Arabic 'Adharbayjan' the name reached its modern English form. The country adopted 'Azerbaijan' as its official name when it declared independence in 1918.