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subcontinent

UK/ˌsʌbˈkɒntɪnənt/
nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,880 of 15,258mostly written

A subcontinent is a large land mass forming a distinct part of a continent. The Indian subcontinent, across the subcontinent, subcontinental climate.

In practice the word almost always means India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and their neighbours. The claim inside it is geological as well as political, since that block really did arrive as a separate plate.

Definitions of subcontinent

  1. 1nounsubcontinentA large land mass forming part of a continent.C1

    “The monsoon reaches the subcontinent in early June.”

subcontinent is a land mass.

Where it comes from

Sub-, under or below, plus continent: a division ranking below a continent.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *ten-

  2. Latin

    continens

  3. English

    continent

  4. English, today

    subcontinent

Built from

  • contineo · Latin — to contain

From sub + continent. continent Borrowed from Latin continens, noun use of present participle of contineo (“to contain”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

subcontinent in the wild

  • The Shunga Empire in the north and north-east of the subcontinent would fracture into various smaller polities.

    History of India

  • From the late 12th century onwards, Muslim empires dominated the subcontinent, most notably the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire.

    Muslim period in the Indian subcontinent

  • Hindustan, along with its shortened form Hind, is the Persian-language name for India, broadly the Indian subcontinent, that later became commonly used by its inhabitants in Hindustani.

    Hindustan

  • Historically the term was used simultaneously for both the northern Indian subcontinent and for the entire subcontinent.

    Hindustan

  • Also sometimes known as Desi cuisine, it has been influenced by and also has influenced other Asian cuisines beyond the Indian subcontinent.

    South Asian cuisine

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the contineo family

continentcontinuouscontinuum

subcontinent — used about once every 81,824 pages · #14,880 · point at the bar for the others