Carolina

See also: carolina

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Carolina

Wikipedia

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ǵerh₂-der.

Proto-Germanic *karaz

Proto-Germanic *karilazder.

Latin Carolus

Proto-Indo-European *-nós

Proto-Indo-European *-iHnos

Proto-Italic *-īnos

Latin -īnusnom.

Latin -īna

Latin Carolīnabor.

English Carolina

From Latin Carolīna, from Carolus (“Charles”) + -īna (feminine diminutive suffix).^[1] By surface analysis, Carol (male given name) +‎ -ina (feminine diminutive suffix). Doublet of Caroline.

The area in what is now the United States was named by Charles I of England after himself (initially in the spelling Carolana).

The Puerto Rican city (founded in 1816 as Trujillo Bajo) was renamed San Fernando de la Carolina in 1857, and later shortened to Carolina, in reference to Charles II of Spain.

The South African town was named in the 1880s after Magdalena Carolina Smit, the wife of one of its founders.^[2]^[3]

Pronunciation

US area
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkæɹəˈlaɪnə/
- (Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): /ˌkaɹəˈlɑjnə/
  - Audio (Southern England): (file)
- (US)
  - (without the Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˌkæɹəˈlaɪnə/
    - Audio (US, without the Mary–marry–merry merger): (file)
  - (Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˌkɛɹəˈlaɪnə/
    - Audio (US, Mary–marry–merry merger): (file)
  - (African-American Vernacular) IPA^(key): [kæəˈlaːnə]
- (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˌkaɾəˈlʌɪnə/
- (Wales) IPA^(key): /ˌkaɾəˈlaɪnə/
- (Australia) IPA^(key): /ˌkæɹəˈlɑenə/
- (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˌkɛɹəˈlɑenə/
- Rhymes: -aɪnə

Puerto Rican city
- (US)
  - IPA^(key): /ˌkɑɹoʊˈlinɑ/^[4], /-ˈlinə/, (without the Mary–marry–merry merger) /ˌkæɹ-/, (Mary–marry–merry merger) /ˌkɛɹ-/

Proper noun

Carolina (countable and uncountable, plural Carolinas)

(countable) A female given name from Latin, Latinate form of Caroline; rare in English.
(uncountable) A placename:
1. Either North Carolina or South Carolina.
  I drove all the way from Florida to Carolina.
  - 2019 November 25, Peter C. Mancall, “Pilgrims survived until the first Thanksgiving thanks to an epidemic that devastated Native Americans”, in CNN‎^[1], Atlanta, Ga.: Warner Bros. Discovery, archived from the original on 18 February 2026:
    These first English migrants to Jamestown endured terrible disease and arrived during a period of drought and colder-than-normal winters. The migrants to Roanoke on the outer banks of Carolina, where the English had gone in the 1580s, disappeared. And a brief effort to settle the coast of Maine in 1607 and 1608 failed because of an unusually bitter winter.
2. A town in Alabama.
3. A village and census-designated place in the towns of Charlestown and Richmond, Washington County, Rhode Island. ^[5]
4. A municipality of Maranhão, Brazil.
5. A municipality of Puerto Rico, United States.
6. A town in Mpumalanga, South Africa.
7. A municipality of Para district, Suriname.
8. A town in San Miguel department, El Salvador.
(uncountable) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

Latin: carolinianus (New Latin)
Latin: carolinensis (New Latin)

References

^ Patrick Hanks; Flavia Hodges; Kate Hardcastle, editor (2006), “Carolina”, in A Dictionary of First Names, second edition, Oxford University Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 48, column 1.
^ Petrus Johannes Nienaber, Suid-Afrikaanse pleknaamwoordeboek (1963), volume 1, page 190
^ Ethnological Publications (1930), page 21: Carolina is vernoem na Magdalena Carolina Smit, tante van wyle Genl. N. J. Smit, eggenote van „Kort“ Cornelis Coetzee van Steynsdraai wat in 1884 'n deel van sy plaas geskenk het vir die stigting van 'n kerkdorp ..."
^ “Carolina”, in Merriam-Webster Online, Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 1996–present.
^ TopoZone: Carolina, Rhode Island

Anagrams

Carniola, anirolac, conarial

Catalan

Proper noun

Carolina f

a female given name, equivalent to English Caroline

Italian

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin Carolīna.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ka.roˈli.na/
Rhymes: -ina
Hyphenation: Ca‧ro‧lì‧na

Proper noun

Carolina f

a female given name, equivalent to English Caroline

Anagrams

caorlina, ciarlano, ciarlona, ricalano

Portuguese

Pronunciation

(Brazil) IPA^(key): /ka.ɾoˈlĩ.nɐ/

(Portugal) IPA^(key): /kɐ.ɾuˈli.nɐ/

Hyphenation: Ca‧ro‧li‧na

Proper noun

Carolina f (plural Carolinas)

a female given name, equivalent to English Caroline
Carolina (either of the two states North Carolina or South Carolina)

Derived terms

Spanish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /kaɾoˈlina/ [ka.ɾoˈli.na]
Rhymes: -ina
Syllabification: Ca‧ro‧li‧na

Proper noun

Carolina f

a female given name, equivalent to English Caroline
a town in San Miguel department, El Salvador

Derived terms

ipecacuana de la Carolina

Related terms

pet forms

Caro

Swedish

Pronunciation

Audio: (file)

Proper noun

Carolina c (genitive Carolinas)

a female given name, variant of Karolina

[1] Patrick Hanks; Flavia Hodges; Kate Hardcastle, editor (2006), “Carolina”, in A Dictionary of First Names, second edition, Oxford University Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 48, column 1.

[2] Petrus Johannes Nienaber, Suid-Afrikaanse pleknaamwoordeboek (1963), volume 1, page 190

[3] Ethnological Publications (1930), page 21: Carolina is vernoem na Magdalena Carolina Smit, tante van wyle Genl. N. J. Smit, eggenote van „Kort“ Cornelis Coetzee van Steynsdraai wat in 1884 'n deel van sy plaas geskenk het vir die stigting van 'n kerkdorp ..."

[4] “Carolina”, in Merriam-Webster Online, Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 1996–present.

[5] TopoZone: Carolina, Rhode Island

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