medina

noun

me·​di·​na mə-ˈdē-nə How to pronounce medina (audio)
: the non-European part of a northern African city

Examples of medina in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Beyond the trappings of surfer culture, the city center has grown into a place of international cafés and a bustling medina of its own. Ann Abel, Forbes, 11 Jan. 2023 Accommodations include Kasbah Azul and Azalai Desert Lodge, both located in desert oases, Riad Caravane in Ait Ben Haddou and La Sultana, an atmospheric hotel in the Marrakech medina. Laurie Werner, Forbes, 8 Apr. 2021 There are worse places to be lost than the old medina of Tunis, a dizzying labyrinth of ancient alleyways. New York Times, 12 Jan. 2021 Saad Alami As a few faint rain drops began to fall in the courtyard of Riad Mena, a seven-room guesthouse in the Marrakesh medina, the hotelier Philomena Schurer Merckoll looked skyward, assessing the likelihood of a downpour. Paula Hardy, New York Times, 8 May 2020 Kaddour El Miny used to sell water to shoppers in the medina. Houston Chronicle, 7 Apr. 2020 Located in the middle of the old medina, Dar el Bacha was once a private palace, built by the Pasha of Marrakech in the 1910s. Rachel King, Fortune, 6 Mar. 2020 Keep Up in the Kasbah Walk through the medina and up towards the Kasbah, the walled fortress of the city. Michelle Stansbury, Marie Claire, 20 Mar. 2020 The book’s 800 illustrations reveal similarities between sinuous walls along Japanese gardens and Libyan medina alleyways, and kindred-spirited caretakers at work on New Mexican pueblos and colorful earthen homes in Burkina Faso. New York Times, 12 Mar. 2020

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'medina.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Arabic madīna city

First Known Use

1906, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of medina was in 1906

Dictionary Entries Near medina

Cite this Entry

“Medina.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/medina. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Geographical Definition

Medina

geographical name

Me·​di·​na
1
mə-ˈdē-nə How to pronounce Medina (audio) or Arabic Al Madīnah city in western Saudi Arabia population 1,100,000

Note: Medina is the second most important holy city of Islam.

2
mə-ˈdī-nə How to pronounce Medina (audio) city in northern Ohio west-northwest of Akron population 26,678

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