Ohio

Part of speech: noun, proper noun

Definitions

1. A U.S. state located in the Midwest, known for its diverse geography and significant role in American history
2. A state in the United States bordered by Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, and Michigan, with Columbus as its capital
3. A Midwestern state renowned for its cities, agriculture, and industrial contributions to the nation

Etymology: The name began as a Seneca phrase, "ohi꞉yoʼ," meaning "good river." The Seneca, one of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) nations of what is now New York, used it as a proper name for the river we now call the Ohio. It was not a name for a whole region or a future state. The name was later applied to the river itself, and the Lenape (Delaware) peoples and the Iroquois considered the Allegheny River to be part of the same single river. The Lenape word for the Allegheny, in the Unami dialect, carries the same meaning, "good river," so the river's several names all reflected one shared idea. Settlers adopted the name for the waterway, and it eventually spread to the territory the river bordered. Once the river was a fixed name, the state took it. Ohio's name therefore points to a river before it points to any land, and the word's core meaning is simple praise for a waterway.

Synonyms: Buckeye State