Word.ws English Dictionary

Karamay

Karamay proper noun: a prefecture-level city in northern Xinjiang autonomous region, China.

Proper noun

Karamay

  1. A prefecture-level city in northern Xinjiang autonomous region, China.
    • On 18 June 1985 I spent three hours birdwatching at an artificial lake near the power station in the Karamay Oilfield in Xinjiang Autonomous Region, Peoples^([sic – meaning People's]) Republic of China. The site is approximately 46°N, 85°E, close to the oil town of Karamay and within 300 kms of the...1986, W G Harvey, “A Taste of Karamay”, in Oriental Bird Club Bulletin, number 4, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 8
    • In 1955 a large petroleum field was discovered at Karamay, to the north in the Junggar Basin; it was brought into production in 1958-59 and has since become one of China’s major domestic sources of oil.2011, Kenneth Pletcher, editor, The Geography of China, Britannica Educational Publishing, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 263
    Synonyms:
    Kelamayi, K'o-la-ma-i

Examples of Karamay in a sentence

  • The site is approximately 46°N, 85°E, close to the oil town of Karamay and within 300 kms of the border with Kazakhstan in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.1986, W G Harvey, “A Taste of Karamay”, in Oriental Bird Club Bulletin, number 4, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 8:
  • That is not the case with “Big Oil Bubble” as the Karamay sculpture is called.2015 August 29, “The Bean and the Bubble”, in The Economist, volume 416, number 8953, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 27:

Synonyms of Karamay

Origin of Karamay

Borrowed from Uyghur قاراماي (qaramay), from قارا (qara, “black”) + ماي (may, “oil”). Alternatively, from қара (qara) + май (may). Named after the now scenic spot Black Oil Mountain (in Chinese 黑油山) 2 kilometres away from the city centre.

Questions about Karamay

What does Karamay mean?
Karamay means a prefecture-level city in northern Xinjiang autonomous region, China.
How do you use Karamay in a sentence?
The site is approximately 46°N, 85°E, close to the oil town of Karamay and within 300 kms of the border with Kazakhstan in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
What part of speech is Karamay?
Karamay is a proper noun.

Words near Karamay in the dictionary

  1. Karamanlis
  2. Karamanlism
  3. Karamanov
  4. Karamanyan
  5. Karamanyans
  6. Karamay
  7. Karamazovian
  8. Karambelkar
  9. Karambelkars
  10. karambit
  11. karambits

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Karamay (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.

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