Meanings
- A placename suffix indicating a fortified place.
Some of these hilltops – Sidbury, Quarley, Danebury and Woolbury – were later, in the sixth and fifth centuries, appropriated for the building of hillforts.
1983, Barry Cunliffe, chapter 3, in Danebury Hillfort, Stroud: Tempus
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Old Englishbyriġ
- English-bury
From Old English byriġ, the dative case of burg (“fortified place”) (whence borough); doublet of -borough and -burg. Due to the collapse of the case system between Old and Middle English, many placenames retain a fossilized dative form, as places would most commonly have been invoked in the dative (after a preposition in, at, to etc.).
More words from Old English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
-bury. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-bury
“-bury.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-bury. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “-bury,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-bury.
Source: -bury on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.