overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

Nineveh.

The capital of ancient Assyria, now Mosul, Iraq.

7 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

name/ˈnɪnɪvə//ˈnɪnəvə/
  1. The capital of ancient Assyria, now Mosul, Iraq.

    historical
  2. A governorate in Northern Iraq.

Where this word comes from

From Old English Niniuea (under influence from Biblical Hebrew נִינְוֵה (nīnəwē)), from Latin Nīnevē, from Ancient Greek Νινευή (Nineuḗ), ultimately from Akkadian 𒌷𒉌𒉡𒀀 𒀏 (/⁠Ninua⁠/) or Old Babylonian 𒌷𒉌𒉡𒀀 (/⁠Ninuwā⁠/) of uncertain origin, but is clearly a variation of 𒀏 (/⁠ninâ⁠/, “fish”). The cuneiform seems to denote "House of Fish", although whether this referred to literal fish, an aspect of Ishtar, a separate Hurrian goddess, or something else entirely is unclear. The traditional folk etymology in classical antiquity derived it from an eponymous founder Ninus (Greek: Νίνος (Nínos)).

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

Nineveh has 7 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

Nineveh studioNineveh workshello, Nineveh

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.