Etymology

town

T1O1W4N1

Today it means: A settlement; an area with residential districts, shops and amenities, and its own local government; especially one larger than a village and smaller than a city, historically enclosed by a fence or walls, with total populations ranging from several hundred to more than a hundred thousand (as of the early 21st century) Full definition →

Middle English toun ← Old English tūn ← Proto-West Germanic *tūn
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town · noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*dewh₂-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*duh₂-nós?
  3. Proto-Celtic*dūnom
  4. Proto-Germanic*tūną
  5. Proto-West Germanic*tūn
  6. Old Englishtūn
  7. Middle Englishtoun
  8. English todaytown

Inherited from Middle English toun, from Old English tūn, from Proto-West Germanic *tūn, from Proto-Germanic *tūną, borrowed from Proto-Celtic *dūnom (“stronghold, rampart”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *duh₂-nós (“lasting, durable”), from *dewh₂- (“to last”) + *-nós. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Tuun (“garden”), West Frisian tún (“enclosure, garden”), Dutch tuin (“garden”), German Low German Tuun (“fence”), German Zaun (“fence”), Danish tun, Swedish tun and Norwegian Nynorsk tun (“yard”); also archaic Welsh din (“hill”), Irish dún (“fortress”). Doublet of dun. See also -ton and tine (“to enclose”).

Town · proper noun2

From the noun town.

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishtoun all →

TownsendKeaton

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.