Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun The region of Russia in Asia, stretching from the Urals to the Pacific Ocean.
  • noun figuratively a cold, inhospitable place or place of exile

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a vast Asian region of Russia; famous for long cold winters

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Adopted in the 17th century, from Russian Сибирь. In origin the Tatar name of a 14th-century fortress at Qashliq (Tobolsk) which became the capital of the 16th-century Khanate of Sibir, in 16th century Russian usage extended to the entire area of what is now Tyumen Oblast, and with the ongoing Russian conquest of Siberia by the 19th century to the larger area of Russia's Asian territories beyond the Ob River.

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