# Chania

> English word · Proper noun · frequency rank #87,127

## Definitions
1. A city, the capital of Chania regional unit, on the island of Crete, Greece.
2. A regional unit of Crete, around the city.

## Etymology
From Latin Chania, from Byzantine Greek Χανιά (Khaniá), from Arabic الخان (al-ḵān) + -ιά (-iá, “-ia: forming place names”), literally from ال (al-, “the, place of the”) + خان (ḵān, “caravanserai, inn”) but possibly transliterating a neighborhood whose named derived from its former importance in the worship of the Minoan god Velchanos, whose Minoan name was transcribed into Ancient Greek as Ϝελχάνος (Welkhános).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/chania