Berkeley

B3E1R1K5E1L1E1Y4
UK/ˈbɑːkli/UK/ˈbɜːkli/US/ˈbɝkli/

proper noun

A habitational surname from Old English.

CommonScrabble 17

Meanings

proper noun

alternative Barclay · alternative Barclift · alternative Barkley

  1. A habitational surname from Old English.
  2. A male given name transferred from the surname.
  3. An English barony.
  4. A town and civil parish with a town council in Stroud district, Gloucestershire, England (OS grid ref SP6899).
  5. A number of places in the United States:
    1. A city in Alameda County, California.
      1 more example

      "Our CEQA process is clearly broken when a few wealthy Berkeley homeowners can block desperately needed student housing for years and even decades," Newsom's office said in a statement. "California cannot afford to be held hostage by NIMBYs who weaponize CEQA to block student and affordable housing. This selfish mindset is driving up housing prices, and making our state less affordable."

      2023 March 1, Aaron Kliegman, “Newsom declares war on environmentalists seeking to halt construction project”, in Fox News, archived from the original on 25 Apr 2023
    2. A village in Cook County, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
  6. The University of California, Berkeley metonym.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*bʰerHǵós
  2. Proto-Germanic*berkō
  3. Proto-West Germanic*berku
  4. Old Englishbeorc
  5. Proto-Indo-European*lewk-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*lówkos
  7. Proto-Germanic*lauhaz
  8. Proto-West Germanic*lauh
  9. Old Englishleah
  10. EnglishBerkeley

From Old English beorc (“birch”) + leah (“meadow, leigh”). Equivalent to birch + -ley (“lea”).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic بِيرْكِيلِي, بِيرْكْلِي
  • بِيرْكِيلِي (bīrkīlī)A city
  • بِيرْكْلِي (bīrklī)A city
French Berkeley
  • BerkeleyA city
German Berkeley
  • BerkeleyA city
Greek Μπέρκλι
  • Μπέρκλι (Bérkli)A city
Hebrew ברקלי
  • ברקליA city
Japanese バークリー
  • バークリー (Bākurī)A city
Korean 버클리
  • 버클리 (Beokeulli)A city
Latin Berkeleia
  • BerkeleiaA city
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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