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Ki·ri·ba·ti

(kēr′ə-bätē, kîrə-băs′)

An island country of the west-central Pacific Ocean near the equator. It includes the former Gilbert Islands, Banaba (Ocean Island), and the Phoenix and Line islands. Settled by Austronesian peoples before the 1st century AD, the islands, together with the Ellice Islands, became a British protectorate (1892-1916) and subsequently a crown colony under the name the Gilbert and Ellice Island Colony. The Ellice Islands gained independence (1978) as Tuvalu and the remaining islands (1979) as Kiribati. Tarawa is the capital.

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Kiribati

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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