Vancouver

The family name is from the Dutch place name Coevorden (“the place where cows ford the river”) via the Dutch family name van Coevorden (“a person from Coevorden”). The place names are derived from the family name, being named after George Vancouver, an English explorer who charted the northwestern Pacific coast of North America in a 1791–1794 expedition.

• IPA^(key): /vænˈkuː.vɚ/, /væŋˈkuː.vɚ/

• Audio (British Columbia):

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• Audio (US):

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• Audio:

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• Rhymes: -uːvə(ɹ)

Vancouver (countable and uncountable, plural Vancouvers)

1. A surname.
3. A seaport, the largest city in British Columbia, Canada.
   • 2012 July 12, Nathan Pachal, “TomTom Congestion Index Useless for Metro Vancouver”, in The South Fraser Blog‎^[1], archived from the original on 23 April 2025:

     PS: The average commute time in the freewayless City of Vancouver is 27 minutes, while outside of the City of Vancouver the average commute time is 31 minutes.

4. A large island of British Columbia, Canada.
5. A river in southern British Columbia, Canada.
6. A mountain between Alaska, United States and Yukon, Canada in the Saint Elias Mountains.
7. A mountain straddling the Canterbury and the West Coast regions in the Southern Alps, on the South Island, New Zealand.
9. A city, the county seat of Clark County, Washington, United States.
   • 2025 August 21, Allison Williams, “I Braved Washington’s First In-N-Out Burger Line”, in Seattle Met‎^[2], archived from the original on 28 August 2025:

     Washington’s first outpost of the California-born burger joint opened Wednesday after long anticipation and a few fake-outs (like the prank sign someone posted in Wallingford in June). Problem is, it’s located in Ridgefield, a suburb of Vancouver, Washington. […] Ridgefield is the 424th location.

10. A lake in Clark County, Washington, United States.
11. (attributive) The Vancouver system of reference citation.
    • 2019, G. Jagadeesh, Biomedical Research, page 485:

      The different fields in the 'style' file include the format of the in-text citations (Vancouver or Harvard style) […]

• (Canadian city): Hollywood North (informal), Hongcouver (informal, somewhat derogatory), Lotusland (informal), No Fun City (informal, usually pejorative), Raincouver (informal), Vangroovy (informal).

• The True Meaning of Vancouver, Joseph Jones, Vancouver Sun, 1994-12-31, which in turn cites Woordenboek der Noord — en Zuidnederlandse plaatsnamen

Borrowed from English Vancouver.

• (France) IPA^(key): /vɑ̃.ku.vɛʁ/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /vã.ku.vaɛ̯ʁ/

Vancouver f

1. Vancouver (a seaport, the largest city in British Columbia, Canada)
2. Vancouver (a city, the county seat of Clark County, Washington, United States)

Unadapted borrowing from English Vancouver.

Vancouver m or f

1. Vancouver (a seaport, the largest city in British Columbia, Canada)
2. Vancouver (a city, the county seat of Clark County, Washington, United States)

• IPA^(key): /banˈkubeɾ/ [bãŋˈku.β̞eɾ]
• Rhymes: -ubeɾ
• Syllabification: Van‧cou‧ver

Vancouver f

1. Vancouver (a seaport, the largest city in British Columbia, Canada)
2. Vancouver (a city, the county seat of Clark County, Washington, United States)