Gobi Desert

Gobi Desert
Length1,500 km (930 mi)
Width800 km (500 mi)
Area1,295,000 km2 (500,000 sq mi)
Naming
Native name
Geography
Countries
State
RegionInner Mongolia
Coordinates42°35′N 103°26′E / 42.59°N 103.43°E / 42.59; 103.43
Gobi Desert
Chinese name
Chinese戈壁
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinGēbì
Bopomofoㄍㄜ ㄅㄧˋ
Gwoyeu RomatzyhGebih
Wade–GilesKo-pi4
IPA[kɤ́.pî]
other Mandarin
Xiao'erjingقْبِ
Mongolian name
Mongolian CyrillicГовь
Mongolian scriptᠭᠣᠪᠢ
Transcriptions
SASM/GNCGowĭ

The Gobi Desert (Mongolian: Говь, ᠭᠣᠪᠢ, /ˈɡbi/; Chinese: 戈壁; pinyin: gēbì) is a large, cold desert and grassland region located in northern China and southern Mongolia. It is the sixth largest desert in the world. The name of the desert comes from the Mongolian word Gobi, used to refer to all of the waterless regions in the Mongolian Plateau; in Chinese, Gobi is used to refer to rocky, semi-deserts such as the Gobi itself rather than sandy deserts.[1]

  1. ^ Chao SC (1984). "The sandy deserts and the gobi of China". In Farouk El-Baz (ed.). Deserts and arid lands. pp. 95–113. doi:10.1007/978-94-009-6080-0_5. ISBN 978-94-009-6082-4.