Save Type Settlement Usage English, Danish, French, Indonesian, Malay, Norwegian, Romanian, Swahili, Swedish, Welsh Pronounced Pron. kah-TOOM(English) kahr-TOOM(English) KAR-TOOM(French) kar-TOOM(Romanian) [key·IPA] Meaning & History Most likely from Arabic قرطم (qurṭum), meaning "safflower", or possibly خرطوم (ḵurṭūm), meaning "elephant's trunk". This is the name of the capital city of Sudan.