Sepharad (/ˈsɛfəræd/ SEF-ər-ad[1] or /səˈfɛərəd/ sə-FAIR-əd;[2][3] Hebrew: סְפָרַד, romanized: Səp̄āraḏ, Israeli pronunciation: [sfaˈʁad]; also Sfard, Spharad, Sefarad, or Sephared) is the Hebrew-language name for the Iberian Peninsula, consisting of both modern-time Western Europe's Spain and Portugal, especially in reference to the local Jews before their forced expulsion from 1492 onwards. In Biblical Hebrew, the term referred to the ancient city of Sardis, whose Lydian name was Šfard; in modern Hebrew, the name has mostly come to refer to Spain.[4]