🇪🇸Spanish Source WordCode: ES

Indias orientales

Pronunciation / Transliteration: ˈindjas oɾjenˈtales

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
East Indies/ˌiːst ˈɪn.diz/
nounCEFR C1 (Advanced)Top #8500 frequency
Full Thesaurus
🇪🇸 Example Sentence in Spanish:

"Los exploradores buscaron rutas marítimas directas hacia las Indias orientales."

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As noun
  1. 1

    A historical geographical term traditionally referring to South and Southeast Asia, including India, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

    "During the seventeenth century, European trading companies vied for control of the lucrative spice routes to the East Indies."
  2. 2

    Specifically, the Malay Archipelago or the islands of Indonesia.

    "The Dutch established a vast colonial empire centered in the islands of the East Indies."

Thesaurus & Semantic Spectrum

Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

The term originated during the early colonial era from European exploration, distinguishing the lands of South and Southeast Asia (the East Indies) from the Americas (the West Indies). It derives from the geographical name India combined with 'East' to denote the Asiatic lands associated with the spice trade.

Quick Vocabulary Retention Check

Which of the following is the closest synonym for "East Indies"?

10 Global Lexicons: How "East Indies" is said worldwide

Click any language below to open its dedicated Language to English dictionary page with native script & transliteration

Thesaurus & Synonyms Graph

Explore Nuanced Synonyms for "East Indies"

Discover exact matches, context-specific alternatives, and antonyms with intensity ratings in the VocabDictionary Thesaurus.

View "East Indies" Synonym Map