Iraq
- 1A country in West Asia, part of the Middle East, with Baghdad as its capital and largest city.
Iraq shares a long eastern border with Iran.
Some of the world's earliest cities grew up in the river valleys of Iraq.
Note
The name came into English from Arabic al-ʕirāq, where al- is the definite article. English keeps the name but drops the article, so the country is simply Iraq. In news prose the name often stands for the state acting as a government, as when Iraq takes over security control from foreign forces. The adjective is Iraqi, as in Iraqi forces.
- 2A broad medieval region of West Asia that included the modern territory of Iraq along with much of western Iran, the latter known as Persian Iraq.
Medieval caravans moved across Iraq, passing from the Tigris lowlands into the mountains of western Persia.
The ruler appointed a governor over all of Iraq, from the Arab plains to the Persian cities.
Note
A historian's name for a territory much wider than today's state, joining the lands of modern Iraq with the uplands of western Iran. Because the region had two halves, it can take a plural, the Two Iraqs, one of which was Persian Iraq. Keep it for medieval geography. In any later setting the name means the modern country.
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Origin
Borrowed from Arabic الْعِرَاق (al-ʕirāq, “Iraq”).