mother continent
nounUK /ˈmʌðə ˈkɒntɪnənt/
US /ˈmʌðər ˈkɑːntɪnənt/
The mother continent is the very old land where a group of people or animals first began.
Scientists say Africa is the mother continent of all humans.
RELATED WORDS
OTHER MEANINGS
2. The continent where a particular family of languages first started.
Linguists traced the language family back to its mother continent.
3. A continent that other smaller land areas broke away from long ago.
Geologists study how the mother continent split into today's continents.
4. The main or first continent in a story or legend.
In the tale, explorers sailed from the mother continent to find new lands.