# Iraq

Pronunciation: US say "i-RAK" /ɪˈɹæk/; say "i-RAHK" UK /ɪˈɹɑːk/, AUS /ɪˈɹɐːk/

## Proper noun

1. A country in West Asia, part of the Middle East, with Baghdad as its capital and largest city.
   - Simple: A country in the Middle East, in West Asia. Its capital city is Baghdad.
   - _Iraq shares a long eastern border with Iran._
   - _Some of the world's earliest cities grew up in the river valleys of Iraq._
2. A 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.
   - Simple: A large region of West Asia in the Middle Ages. It covered modern Iraq and parts of western Iran.
   - _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._

## Origin

Borrowed from Arabic الْعِرَاق (al-ʕirāq, “Iraq”).

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/iraq (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).