Meanings
proper nounNewburn (countable and uncountable, plural Newburns)
plural Newburns
- countableuncountableA surname.
- countableuncountableA village in the City of Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England, west of the city and on the north bank of the Tyne (OS grid ref NZ1665).
- countableuncountableA civil parish of Fife, Scotland.
Origin
- Old Englishnīwe“new”
- EnglishNewburn
The place-name in Newcastle upon Tyne is from Old English nīwe (“new”) + burh (“fortress”). The second element was later substituted for burn (“stream”). The Fife place-name was historically Nithbren (1150). Possibly from Pictish, perhaps from *Nith, an ethnonym, with a cognate of Welsh bryn (“hill”) or Welsh pren (“tree”).
More words from Old English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
Newburn. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Newburn
MLA
“Newburn.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Newburn. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Newburn,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Newburn.
Source: Newburn on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.