the largest of the continents, bordering on the Arctic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Mediterranean and Red Seas inthe west. It includes the large peninsulas of Asia Minor, India, Arabia, and Indochina and the island groups of Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka; contains the mountain ranges of the Hindu Kush, Himalayas, Pamirs, Tian Shan, Urals, and Caucasus, the great plateaus of India, Iran, and Tibet, vast plains and deserts, and the valleys of many large rivers including the Mekong, Irrawaddy, Indus, Ganges, Tigris, and Euphrates. Pop: 4 164 252 000 (2011 est). Area: 44 391 162 sq km (17 139 445 sq miles)
Asia in American English
(ˈeɪʒə; Chiefly British ˈeɪʃə)
largest continent, situated in the Eastern Hemisphere, bounded by the Arctic, Pacific, and Indian oceans, and separated from N Europe by the Ural Mountains: it includes, in addition to the nations on the land mass, Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, & Indonesia: c. 17,400,000 sq mi (45,066,000 sq km); pop. c. 3,451,000,000
Word origin
L < Gr < ? Akkadian āṣū, to rise (of the sun), go out
Word lists with
Asia
Continents, inhabitant
In other languages
Asia
British English: Asia /ˈeɪʃə; ˈeɪʒə/ NOUN
Asia is the largest of the continents, bordering on the Arctic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Mediterranean and Red Seas in the west.
American English: Asia
Arabic: آسِيَا
Brazilian Portuguese: Ásia
Chinese: 亚洲
Croatian: Azija
Czech: Asie
Danish: Asien
Dutch: Azië
European Spanish: Asia
Finnish: Aasia
French: Asie
German: Asien
Greek: Ασία
Italian: Asia
Japanese: アジア
Korean: 아시아
Norwegian: Asia
Polish: Azja
European Portuguese: Ásia
Romanian: Asia
Russian: Азия
Latin American Spanish: Asia
Swedish: Asien
Thai: ทวีปเอเชีย
Turkish: Asya
Ukrainian: Азія
Vietnamese: châu Á
All related terms of 'Asia'
A'asia
Australasia
East Asia
countries of E Asia , including China , Japan , North & South Korea , and Mongolia
Asia Minor
large peninsula in W Asia , between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean , including Asiatic Turkey west of an undefined line from the Gulf of Iskenderun to the Black Sea
Central Asia
a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to northern India in the south. It includes the five former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , Tajikistan , Turkmenistan , Uzbekistan , as well as Afghanistan and parts of Iran , China, Mongolia , Pakistan , India, and southwestern Siberia .
Southeast Asia
a region including Brunei , Cambodia , Indonesia, Laos , Malaysia, Myanmar , the Philippines, Thailand , and Vietnam
Soviet Central Asia
the region of the former Soviet Union now occupied by Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , Tajikistan , Turkmenistan , and Uzbekistan
Anatolia
the Asian part of Turkey , occupying the peninsula between the Black Sea, the Mediterranean , and the Aegean : consists of a plateau , largely mountainous , with salt lakes in the interior