say it: ZAHY-uhn
zion is a noun meaning "originally a stronghold captured by David (the 2nd king of the Israelites); above it was built a temple and later the name extended to the whole hill; finally it became a synonym for the city of Jerusalem". It carries 3 recorded senses.
originally a stronghold captured by David (the 2nd king of the Israelites); above it was built a temple and later the name extended to the whole hill; finally it became a synonym for the city of Jerusalem
“the inhabitants of Jerusalem are personified as `the daughter of Zion'”
Jewish republic in southwestern Asia at eastern end of Mediterranean; formerly part of Palestine
an imaginary place considered to be perfect or ideal
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for zion come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.