English

Alternative forms

• İzmir (uncommon)

Proper noun

Izmir

1. A major Turkish port city situated midway along the western Anatolian seaboard, geographically continuous with the ancient city of Smyrna.
   • 1954, Amerikan Kız Koleji [aut.] and Margaret W. Meyer [ed.], İzmir: The Gateway to Turkey (Piyasa Matbaası), main title
   • 2000, Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls, Turkey, page 14

     One major problem in towns of all sizes is the lack of street signs, but almost every local tourist office can provide you with a map. City tourist offices almost always provide acceptable maps; those for İstanbul and İzmir are as good as any you pay for.

   • 2009, James Bainbridge, Turkey, page 221

     It may be Turkey’s third-largest city in terms of population, but in the congestion stakes İzmir has to be challenging for top honours.

Usage notes

• The spelling Izmir is technically incorrect because Turkish has two forms of the letter i, namely İ (whose lower-case form is i) and I (whose lower-case form is ı). Because the two letters are pronounced very differently, the Turkish pronunciation for Izmir would be *[ˈɯʐmiɾ], approximated in English as [ˈuzmɪɚ] (o͞ozʹmîr).

Synonyms

• Smyrna (obsolete, prior to the Turkish Postal Service Law of 28 March 1930)

Translations