# Venezuela

Pronunciation: say "ven-i-ZWAY-luh" /ˌvɛn.ɪˈzweɪ.lə/

## Proper noun

1. A South American country, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, whose capital and largest city is Caracas.
   - Simple: A country in South America. Its capital and biggest city is Caracas.
   - _Venezuela holds some of the largest proven oil reserves in the world._
   - _She spent a semester studying abroad in Venezuela before finishing her degree._

## Origin

Borrowed from Spanish Venezuela, which came from Italian Veneziola, a diminutive of Venezia ("Venice") meaning "little Venice." The name refers to the stilt houses that reminded people of Venetian architecture.

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