Istanbul
/ɪ.stænˈbʊl//ˈɪ.stɑːn.bʊl/
Istanbul proper noun: a Turkish city, and the largest European city by population, which was the last capital of the Ottoman Empire and the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire).
Proper noun
Istanbul
- A Turkish city, and the largest European city by population, which was the last capital of the Ottoman Empire and the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire).
- Nearly a century ago, my grandfather passed through Istanbul en route to Europe along with hordes of other White Russians fleeing the Russian civil war.2014 July 21, Ivan Watson, “Loud, anarchic, quirky: My love affair with Istanbul”, in CNN, archived from the original on 20 Feb 2026
- A province in Turkey.
- Synonyms:
- Byzantium, Byzantion, Constantinople
Istanbul meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
Istanbul in Hindi
- largest city of Turkey and last capital of the Ottoman Empire
- इस्तांबुल istāmbul
Istanbul in Tamil
- largest city of Turkey and last capital of the Ottoman Empire
- இசுதான்புல் icutāṉpul
Istanbul in Marathi
- largest city of Turkey and last capital of the Ottoman Empire
- इस्तांबुल istāmbul
Istanbul in Urdu
- largest city of Turkey and last capital of the Ottoman Empire
- اِسْتَن٘بول istaṉbol
More languagesFewer languages
- Istanbul in Bengali
- ইস্তাম্বুল istambul
- Istanbul in Gujarati
- ઇસ્તંબૂલ istambūl
- Istanbul in Nepali
- इस्तानबुल istānabul
- Istanbul in Pashto
- استانبول istānbūl
- Istanbul in Arabic
- إِسْطَنْبُول ʔisṭanbūl, إِسْتَنْبُول ʔistanbūl, إستانبول
- Istanbul in Malay
- Istanbul, Setambul
- Istanbul in Indonesian
- Istambul
- Istanbul in Thai
- อิสตันบูล ís-dtân-buul
- Istanbul in Vietnamese
- Tân La Mã
Synonyms of Istanbul
- Byzantium
- Byzantion
- Constantinople
Forms of Istanbul
| alternative form | İstanbul |
|---|---|
| alternative form | Stambul |
| alternative form | Stamboul |
Origin of Istanbul
From Turkish İstanbul, from Ottoman Turkish استانبول (İstanbul), a corruption of Byzantine Greek εἰς τὴν Πόλιν (eis tḕn Pólin, “to the City”), which is how Constantinople was referred to by the local Greeks.
Words formed from Istanbul
Questions about Istanbul
- What does Istanbul mean?
- Istanbul means a Turkish city, and the largest European city by population, which was the last capital of the Ottoman Empire and the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire).
- What is Istanbul in Hindi?
- Istanbul in Hindi is इस्तांबुल (istāmbul). See Istanbul meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is Istanbul?
- Istanbul is a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce Istanbul?
- Istanbul is pronounced /ɪ.stænˈbʊl/ (UK).
Words near Istanbul in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Istanbul (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Istanbul.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Istanbul.wav.
Cite this entry: “Istanbul.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/istanbul. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.