Standard Lemma guide

Madagascar

name · noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • British, Received-Pronunciation, Southern, Standard: /mædəˈɡæskə/
  • British, Received-Pronunciation, Southern, Standard: /-skɑː/
  • Northern-England, Wales: /madəˈɡaskə/
  • Northern-England, Wales: /-skaː/
  • London: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /mædəˈɡæskɑɹ/
  • Scotland: /madəˈɡaskəɾ/
  • Scotland: /-skaɾ/
  • CMU ARPABET: M AE2 D AH0 G AE1 S K ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

name

Meaning 1

An island and country off the east coast of Africa. Official name: Republic of Madagascar. Capital: Antananarivo.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A resident of Madagascar.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete, rare

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Madagascan, Madagascarian, Malagasy

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

an island in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa; the 4th largest island in the world

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: island

4

noun

Meaning 4

a republic on the island of Madagascar; achieved independence from France in 1960

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Republic of Madagascar, Malagasy Republic

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: African country, African nation

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French Madagascar, from Madageiscar, popularly reputed as a corrupted transliteration of Mogadishu by Marco Polo's misreading of Arabic. The maps of particular interest are that of al-Idrisi in the 12th century, who produced the Tabula Rogeriana, the most advanced world map at the time. The actual misconstrued term was Arabic جَزِيرَة المَالَائِيّ (jazīrat al-mālāʔiyy, “The Island of Mālāī”) listed alongside Arabic جَزِيرَة القَمَر (jazīrat al-qamar, “The Island of the Moon”) which lent its name to Comoros; Madagascar however likely being the original based on its dimensions. The map in question warps the direction of Africa's east coast to be parallel to the coast of southeast Asia, prompting a conflation of the regions furthest east and furthest south, in the reaches of Arab exploration. This perhaps makes the Island of Mālāī both representing Madagascar and an island in Indonesia, likely Sumatra, in close proximity to Malaysia. To conflate matters further, the populations of both regions are of Austronesian background, a fact pointed out by Arab explorers who identified Madagascar as colony of the former region. A second wave of Austronesians, including Malays, did indeed migrate to the island after the first group had originally left from what was likely Southern Borneo from linguistic and genetic analysis. "Mālāī-Gezīra" also holds connection to the term for the people and languages of the island, Malagasy, which had earlier forms Malegass and Madegass, because of dialect division.

Across languages

Translations

101 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: Madagaskar — country in Southern Africa
  • Amharic: ማዳጋስካር (madagaskar) — country in Southern Africa
  • Arabic: مَدَغَشْقَر (madaḡašqar) — country in Southern Africa
  • Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܡܲܕܲܓܲܫܩܲܪ (maddagašqar) — country in Southern Africa
  • Armenian: Մադագասկար (Madagaskar) — country in Southern Africa
  • Assamese: মাদাগাস্কাৰ (madagaskar) — country in Southern Africa
  • Asturian: Madagascar — country in Southern Africa
  • Azerbaijani: Madaqaskar — country in Southern Africa
  • Belarusian: Мадагаска́р (Madahaskár) — country in Southern Africa
  • Bengali: মাদাগাস্কার (madagaskar) — country in Southern Africa
  • Breton: Madagaskar — country in Southern Africa
  • Bulgarian: Мадагаска́р (Madagaskár) — country in Southern Africa
  • Burmese: မဒါဂတ်စကား (ma.dagatca.ka:) — country in Southern Africa
  • Catalan: Madagascar — country in Southern Africa
  • Cherokee: ᎹᏓᎦᏍᎧᎵ (madagaskali) — country in Southern Africa
  • Chinese Mandarin: 馬達加斯加 /马达加斯加 (Mǎdájiāsījiā) — country in Southern Africa
  • Czech: Madagaskar — country in Southern Africa
  • Danish: Madagaskar — country in Southern Africa
  • Dhivehi: މަޑަގަސްކަރަ (maḍagaskara) — country in Southern Africa
  • Dutch: Madagaskar — country in Southern Africa
  • Esperanto: Madagaskaro — country in Southern Africa
  • Estonian: Madagaskar — country in Southern Africa
  • Finnish: Madagaskar — country in Southern Africa
  • French: Madagascar — country in Southern Africa
  • Galician: Madagascar — country in Southern Africa
  • Georgian: მადაგასკარი (madagasḳari) — country in Southern Africa
  • German: Madagaskar — country in Southern Africa
  • Greek: Μαδαγασκάρη (Madagaskári) — country in Southern Africa
  • Hausa: Madagaskar — country in Southern Africa
  • Hebrew: מדגסקר (madagaskár) — country in Southern Africa
  • Hindi: मेडागास्कर (meḍāgāskar) — country in Southern Africa
  • Hindi: मैडागास्कर (maiḍāgāskar) — country in Southern Africa
  • Hungarian: Madagaszkár — country in Southern Africa
  • Icelandic: Madagaskar — country in Southern Africa
  • Ingrian: Madagaskara — country in Southern Africa
  • Interlingua: Madagascar — country in Southern Africa
  • Irish: Madagascar — country in Southern Africa
  • Italian: Madagascar — country in Southern Africa
  • Japanese: マダガスカル (Madagasukaru) — country in Southern Africa
  • Kamba: Madagaska — country in Southern Africa
  • Kazakh: Мадагаскар (Madagaskar) — country in Southern Africa
  • Khmer: ម៉ាដាហ្គាស្ការ (maadaagiəskaa) — country in Southern Africa
  • Kikuyu: Madagaska — country in Southern Africa
  • Korean: 마다가스카르 (Madagaseukareu) — country in Southern Africa
  • Korean: 마다가스까르 (Madagaseukkareu) — country in Southern Africa
  • Kyrgyz: Мадагаскар (Madagaskar) — country in Southern Africa
  • Lao: ມາດາກັດກາ (mā dā kat kā) — country in Southern Africa
  • Lao: ມາດາກາສະກາ (mā dā kā sa kā) — country in Southern Africa
  • Latin: Madagascaria — country in Southern Africa
  • Latvian: Madagaskara — country in Southern Africa
  • Lithuanian: Madagaskaras — country in Southern Africa
  • Luhya: Madagaska — country in Southern Africa
  • Luo: Madagaska — country in Southern Africa
  • Macedonian: Мадага́скар (Madagáskar) — country in Southern Africa
  • Malagasy: Madagasikara — country in Southern Africa
  • Malay: Madagaskar — country in Southern Africa
  • Manx: Madagascar — country in Southern Africa
  • Māori: Marakāhia — country in Southern Africa
  • Māori: Matakahaka — country in Southern Africa
  • Meru: Madagaska — country in Southern Africa
  • Mongolian: Мадагаскар (Madagaskar) — country in Southern Africa
  • Navajo: Mágí Bitseeʼ Noodǫ́zí Bikéyah — country in Southern Africa
  • Norman: Madagascar — country in Southern Africa
  • Norwegian Bokmål: Madagaskar — country in Southern Africa
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: Madagaskar — country in Southern Africa
  • Persian: ماداگاسکار (mâdâgâskâr) — country in Southern Africa
  • Pitcairn-Norfolk: Madagascar — country in Southern Africa
  • Polish: Madagaskar — country in Southern Africa
  • Portuguese: Madagáscar — country in Southern Africa
  • Portuguese: Madagascar — country in Southern Africa
  • Punjabi: ਮਾਦਾਗਾਸਕਰ (mādāgāskar) — country in Southern Africa
  • Punjabi: مڈغاسکر (mḍġāskr) — country in Southern Africa
  • Romanian: Madagascar — country in Southern Africa
  • Russian: Мадагаска́р (Madagaskár) — country in Southern Africa
  • Scots: Madagascar — country in Southern Africa
  • Serbo-Croatian: Мадагаскар — country in Southern Africa
  • Serbo-Croatian: Madagaskar — country in Southern Africa
  • Sinhalese: මැඩගස්කරය (mæḍagaskaraya) — country in Southern Africa
  • Slovak: Madagaskar — country in Southern Africa
  • Slovene: Madagaskar — country in Southern Africa
  • Spanish: Madagascar — country in Southern Africa
  • Swahili: Bukini — country in Southern Africa
  • Swahili: Madagaska — country in Southern Africa
  • Swedish: Madagaskar — country in Southern Africa
  • Tagalog: Madagaskar — country in Southern Africa
  • Tajik: Мадагаскар (Madagaskar) — country in Southern Africa
  • Tamil: மடகாஸ்கர் (maṭakāskar) — country in Southern Africa
  • Tamil: மடகஸ்கார் (maṭakaskār) — country in Southern Africa
  • Tatar: Мадагаскар (Madağasqar) — country in Southern Africa
  • Thai: มาดากัสการ์ (maa-daa-gás-gâa) — country in Southern Africa
  • Tibetan: མ་ད་གཱ་སི་ཀར (ma da gā si kar) — country in Southern Africa
  • Tigrinya: ማዳጋስካር (madagaskar) — country in Southern Africa
  • Turkish: Madagaskar — country in Southern Africa
  • Turkmen: Madagaskar — country in Southern Africa
  • Ukrainian: Мадагаска́р (Madahaskár) — country in Southern Africa
  • Urdu: مڈغاسکر (meḍāġāskar) — country in Southern Africa
  • Uyghur: ماداگاسكار (madagaskar) — country in Southern Africa
  • Uzbek: Madagaskar — country in Southern Africa
  • Vietnamese: Ma-đa-gát-xca — country in Southern Africa
  • Yiddish: מאַדאַגאַסקאַר (madagaskar) — country in Southern Africa
  • Yoruba: Madagásíkà — country in Southern Africa
Real reading context

Madagascar in complete knowledge articles