# Dniester

> English word · Proper noun · IPA /ˈniːstəɹ/

## Definitions
1. A major river in Eastern Europe, flowing south through Ukraine and Moldova to the Black Sea.
2. A raion of Chernivtsi Oblast, Ukraine, established in July 2020. Administrative centre: Kelmentsi.

## Etymology
From Russian Днестр (Dnestr), Ukrainian Дністер (Dnister), pre-reform orthography Днѣстръ (Dněstr), ultimately (compare Byzantine Greek Δάναστρις (Dánastris) and Late Latin Danaster) from Proto-Sarmatian *dānu *nazdya "the close river" (the Dnieper being the far one). The first element is from Proto-Indo-European *déh₂nu (“river”), found in several other river names such as Danube and Донец (Donec); more at Danube.

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