-ville

US/ˈvɪl//ˈvəl/

suffix

Used to form a name of an inhabited place, a town or city.

“The two combatants have been stuck in stalemate-ville for a very long time.”

OriginFrench ville ← Middle French ville ← Old French ville →
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Meanings

suffix-ville (proper noun-forming suffix)
  1. Used to form a name of an inhabited place, a town or city.
  2. figurativelyUsed with an adjective, noun, or gerund as a mildly intensifying locative, indicating a region or state of that kind.

    The two combatants have been stuck in stalemate-ville for a very long time.

    1 more example

    What do you reckon? Far outsville or far insville?

    1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section I, page 18

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*weyḱ-
  2. Proto-Italic*weikslā
  3. Latinvīlla
  4. Old Frenchville
  5. Middle Frenchville
  6. Frenchville
  7. English-ville

Borrowed from French ville (“town, city”).

More words from French

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

-ville. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-ville

MLA

“-ville.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-ville. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “-ville,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-ville.

Source: -ville on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.