overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

navy.

A country's entire maritime military force, including ships and personnel.

4 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈneɪvi/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈnɛjvɪj/British, Southern, Standard/ˈnæɪvi/Australia, New-Zealand/ˈneve/Scotland

  1. A country's entire maritime military force, including ships and personnel.

    countable
    People who get seasick easily shouldn't join the navy.

  2. A governmental department in charge of a country's maritime military force.

    countable

  3. Any fleet of maritime vessels, and especially the entire fleet of any particular nationality, including vessels that are commercial, military, or both.

    archaic · countable

  4. A dark blue colour, usually called navy blue.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English nave, navye, from Anglo-Norman, Old French navie, from Latin nāvigia < nāvigium, from Latin nāvigō, nāvis (“boat”), from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂us. Compare Ancient Greek ναῦς (naûs, “ship”), Persian ناو (nâv, “boat, warship”), Sanskrit नाव (nāva, “ship”), Old English nōwend (“mariner, sailor”). By surface analysis, Latin nav- + -y. Displaced native Old English sċiphere (literally “ship army”).

adj/ˈneɪvi/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈnɛjvɪj/British, Southern, Standard/ˈnæɪvi/Australia, New-Zealand/ˈneve/Scotland

  1. Having the dark blue colour of navy blue.

  2. Belonging to the navy; typical of the navy.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English nave, navye, from Anglo-Norman, Old French navie, from Latin nāvigia < nāvigium, from Latin nāvigō, nāvis (“boat”), from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂us. Compare Ancient Greek ναῦς (naûs, “ship”), Persian ناو (nâv, “boat, warship”), Sanskrit नाव (nāva, “ship”), Old English nōwend (“mariner, sailor”). By surface analysis, Latin nav- + -y. Displaced native Old English sċiphere (literally “ship army”).

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

navy has 4 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

navy studionavy workshello, navy

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.