Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “Colombia” come from?

Colombia derives from Spanish Colombia, which derives from Spanish -ia, a suffix of Latin origin used to form place names from personal names.

Ancestry of “Colombia”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1SpanishColombiaColombia
2Spanish-íaSuffix indicating the first-person singular...
3Ancient Greek-είᾱ—
4Ancient Greek-ήςadjective suffix
5Proto-Indo-European-ēsPrimarily forms adjectival bahuvrīhi compounds
6Proto-Indo-European-ess—
7Proto-Indo-European-osCreates action nouns or result nouns from verbs;...

Words derived from “Colombia”

  • Colombian
  • Colombian necktie
  • Colombianism
  • Colombianness
  • কলম্বিয়া
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -os →