Sahara

The Sahara (Arabic: الصحراء الكبرى, aṣ-ṣaḥrā´ al-kabīr, "The Great Desert", (صحراء )) is the world's largest hot desert, and second largest desert after Antarctica. At over 9,000,000 square kilometres (3,500,000 sq mi), it is almost as large as the United States, and is larger than Australia. Its name derives from one of the Arabic word meaning "desert": "ṣaḥrā´" (صحراء); to refer to the Sahara as the 'Sahara Desert' is a pleonasm.