# Palau
## English
### Etymology

Borrowed from Palauan Belau (“Palau”), traditionally derived from aidebelau (“indirect replies”) in reference to the island's creation story, or from beluu (“village”), from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *banua (“inhabited land, territory”).

### Pronunciation

* (General Australian, UK, US) IPA: /pəˈlaʊ/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (UK):(file)
* Rhymes: -aʊ

### Proper noun

Palau
* A country consisting of around 340 islands in Micronesia, in Oceania. Official name: Republic of Palau. Capital: Ngerulmud.
** 1989, Douglas L. Oliver, “Social Relations”, in Native Cultures of the Pacific Islands‎, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 146:Another society in which wealth per se was highly valued was Palau, but wealth belonging to descent units and not to individuals. […] Palau society was divided into a large number of individually named, exogamous matriclans, and these were in turn subdivided into named matrilineages, each of which was a land-owning corporation and localized within a single community.
** 2014 February 5, Edith M. Lederer, “Palau to ban commercial fishing, promote tourism”, in AP News‎, archived from the original on 2023-07-19‎:The president of Palau declared Tuesday that his Pacific island nation will ban commercial fishing and become a marine sanctuary. […] Remengesau said establishing “a 100 percent marine sanctuary” will enable Palau to preserve “a pristine environment” and promote snorkeling, scuba diving and ecotourism as an alternative way to grow its economy.
** 2016 February 17, Ian Urbina, “Palau vs. the Poachers”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2016-02-17‎:Few places on the planet are as isolated as Palau, or as sprawling. Its 21,000 residents are scattered across a handful of its 250 islands, which take up just 177 square miles combined. Relatively poor, and with no military of its own, Palau employs a marine police division with just 18 members and one patrol ship.
** 2021 October 14, Byron Kaye, “Tiny Pacific nation beats the world with 99% COVID vaccination, says Red Cross”, in Raju Gopalakrishnan, editor, Reuters‎, archived from the original on 2021-10-14, Asia Pacific‎:Fully 99% of Palau's population over 12 has had both shots of vaccine for the new coronavirus, the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) said, citing government figures which also show that this amounts to 16,152 people. That puts Palau, an archipelago of 500 islands in the western Pacific Ocean, in the "top spot", the IFRC said in a statement, ahead of countries like Portugal which was named one of the world's most vaccinated countries when 80% of its 10 million people were fully immunized last month.
** 2024 December 5, Joyu Wang, Austin Ramzy, “Beijing Has Picked Off Taiwan’s Remaining Allies. Taiwan Is Fighting Back.”, in The Wall Street Journal‎, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on December 06, 2024‎:While in Palau, Lai delivered a speech at its legislature and plans to open a government building complex that Taiwan helped to build. On Friday, Taiwan and Palau are set to conduct a joint maritime rescue drill, with Taiwan’s coast guard sending one of its newest domestically-made vessels from its southern port of Kaohsiung, in a possible rehearsal for showdowns with Chinese coast guard vessels in disputed regional waters.
** For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Palau.

#### Derived terms

* Palauan

#### Translations
### See also

* Australia
* Cook Islands
* Fiji
* Kiribati
* Marshall Islands
* Micronesia
* Nauru
* New Zealand
* Niue
* Palau
* Papua New Guinea
* Samoa
* Solomon Islands
* Tonga
* Tuvalu
* Vanuatu
* Ngerulmud
* Countries of the world

### Further reading

* “Palau”, in Collins English Dictionary.
* Palau at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.
* “Palau”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
* “Palau”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
* “Palau” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2025.

### Anagrams

* Lapua, Paula

## Afrikaans
### Alternative forms

* Belau

### Proper noun

Palau
* Palau (A country consisting of around 340 islands in Micronesia, in Oceania; capital: Ngerulmud)

#### Derived terms

* Palauer
* Palaus

## Central Nahuatl
### Etymology

Ultimately from Palauan Belau (“Palau”).

### Proper noun

Palau
* Palau (A country consisting of around 340 islands in Micronesia, in Oceania)

## Czech
### Etymology

Ultimately from Palauan Belau (“Palau”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈpalau̯]
* Hyphenation: Pa‧lau

### Proper noun

Palau n (indeclinable, relational adjective palauský, demonym Palauan, female demonym Palauanka)
* Palau (A country consisting of around 340 islands in Micronesia, in Oceania)

#### Related terms

* palau m inan
* palauština f

### Further reading

* “Palau”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

## Finnish
### Etymology

Ultimately from Palauan Belau (“Palau”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈpɑlɑu̯/, [ˈpɑ̝lɑ̝u̯]
* Rhymes: -ɑlɑu
* Hyphenation: Pa‧lau

### Proper noun

Palau
* Palau (A country consisting of around 340 islands in Micronesia, in Oceania)

#### Declension

Possessive forms of Palau (Kotus type 18/maa, no gradation) :
first-person singular possessor
singular
plural
nominative
Palauni
accusative
nom.
Palauni
gen.
Palauni
genitive
Palauni
partitive
Palautani
inessive
Palaussani
elative
Palaustani
illative
Palauhuni
adessive
Palaullani
ablative
Palaultani
allative
Palaulleni
essive
Palaunani
translative
Palaukseni
abessive
Palauttani
instructive
comitative
second-person singular possessor
singular
plural
nominative
Palausi
accusative
nom.
Palausi
gen.
Palausi
genitive
Palausi
partitive
Palautasi
inessive
Palaussasi
elative
Palaustasi
illative
Palauhusi
adessive
Palaullasi
ablative
Palaultasi
allative
Palaullesi
essive
Palaunasi
translative
Palauksesi
abessive
Palauttasi
instructive
comitative
first-person plural possessor
singular
plural
nominative
Palaumme
accusative
nom.
Palaumme
gen.
Palaumme
genitive
Palaumme
partitive
Palautamme
inessive
Palaussamme
elative
Palaustamme
illative
Palauhumme
adessive
Palaullamme
ablative
Palaultamme
allative
Palaullemme
essive
Palaunamme
translative
Palauksemme
abessive
Palauttamme
instructive
comitative
second-person plural possessor
singular
plural
nominative
Palaunne
accusative
nom.
Palaunne
gen.
Palaunne
genitive
Palaunne
partitive
Palautanne
inessive
Palaussanne
elative
Palaustanne
illative
Palauhunne
adessive
Palaullanne
ablative
Palaultanne
allative
Palaullenne
essive
Palaunanne
translative
Palauksenne
abessive
Palauttanne
instructive
comitative
third-person possessor
singular
plural
nominative
Palaunsa
accusative
nom.
Palaunsa
gen.
Palaunsa
genitive
Palaunsa
partitive
Palautaan Palautansa
inessive
Palaussaan Palaussansa
elative
Palaustaan Palaustansa
illative
Palauhunsa
adessive
Palaullaan Palaullansa
ablative
Palaultaan Palaultansa
allative
Palaulleen Palaullensa
essive
Palaunaan Palaunansa
translative
Palaukseen Palauksensa
abessive
Palauttaan Palauttansa
instructive
comitative

#### Derived terms

* palaulainen

### Anagrams

* Lapua, Paula, lupaa, paalu, paula, pulaa

## German
### Etymology

Ultimately from Palauan Belau (“Palau”).

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Proper noun

Palau n (proper noun, genitive Palaus or (optionally with an article) Palau)
* Palau (A country consisting of around 340 islands in Micronesia, in Oceania)

#### Derived terms

* palauisch

## Hungarian
### Etymology

Ultimately from Palauan Belau (“Palau”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈpɒlɒu]
* Hyphenation: Pa‧lau
* Rhymes: -u

### Proper noun

Palau
* Palau (A country consisting of around 340 islands in Micronesia, in Oceania)

#### Derived terms

* palaui

## Italian
### Etymology

Ultimately from Palauan Belau (“Palau”).

### Proper noun

Palau m
* Palau (A country consisting of around 340 islands in Micronesia, in Oceania)

#### Derived terms

* palauano

### Anagrams

* apula

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Etymology

Ultimately from Palauan Belau (“Palau”).

### Proper noun

Palau
* Palau (A country consisting of around 340 islands in Micronesia, in Oceania)

#### Related terms

* Karolinene
* palauer
* palauisk

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Etymology

Ultimately from Palauan Belau (“Palau”).

### Proper noun

Palau
* Palau (A country consisting of around 340 islands in Micronesia, in Oceania)

#### Related terms

* palauar
* palauisk

## Polish
### Etymology

Borrowed from English Palau, from Palauan Belau (“Palau”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈpa.law/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -alaw
* Syllabification: Pa‧lau

### Proper noun

Palau n (indeclinable, related adjective palauski)
* Palau (A country consisting of around 340 islands in Micronesia, in Oceania)
* Palau (a commune and city in Sassari, Sardinia, Italy)

#### Derived terms

* Palauanka
* Palauańczyk

### See also

* Australia
* Fidżi
* Kiribati
* Mikronezja
* Nauru
* Niue
* Nowa Zelandia
* Palau
* Papua-Nowa Gwinea
* Samoa
* Tonga
* Tuvalu ~ Tuwalu
* Vanuatu
* Wyspy Cooka
* Wyspy Marshalla
* Wyspy Salomona

### Further reading

* Palau in Polish dictionaries at PWN

## Portuguese
### Etymology

Ultimately from Palauan Belau (“Palau”).

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /paˈlaw/ [paˈlaʊ̯]
* (Portugal) IPA: /pɐˈlaw/
* Rhymes: -aw
* Hyphenation: Pa‧lau

### Proper noun

Palau m
* Palau (A country consisting of around 340 islands in Micronesia, in Oceania)

#### Derived terms

* palauano

## Swedish
### Etymology

Ultimately from Palauan Belau (“Palau”).

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Proper noun

Palau n (genitive Palaus)
* Palau (A country consisting of around 340 islands in Micronesia, in Oceania)

#### Derived terms

* palauer
* palauisk
* palauiska

### Further reading

* Palau in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker
* Utrikes namnbok (12th ed., 2024)
* Svensk MeSH

### Anagrams

* Paula

## Turkish
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Proper noun

Palau
* Palau (A country consisting of around 340 islands in Micronesia, in Oceania)

#### Derived terms

* Palaulu

### See also

* Avustralya
* Cook Adaları
* Fiji
* Kiribati
* Marshall Adaları
* Mikronezya
* Nauru
* Niue
* Palau
* Papua Yeni Gine
* Samoa
* Solomon Adaları
* Tonga
* Tuvalu
* Vanuatu
* Yeni Zelanda

## Turkmen
### Etymology

Ultimately from Palauan Belau (“Palau”).

### Proper noun

Palau
* Palau (A country consisting of around 340 islands in Micronesia, in Oceania)