Portishead

P3O1R1T1I1S1H4E1A1D2
/pɔːtɪsˈhɛd/

proper noun

A coastal town and civil parish with a town council in North Somerset district, Somerset, England, on the Bristol Channel (OS grid ref ST4676).

OriginOld English port →
Less commonScrabble 16
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Meanings

proper noun
  1. A coastal town and civil parish with a town council in North Somerset district, Somerset, England, on the Bristol Channel (OS grid ref ST4676).

    Portishead, lying west-north-west of Bristol, on the Severn, had a small port from medieval times on its pill, or inlet, and began to develop as a seaside resort early in the nineteenth century, when it was served by steam packets from Bristol.

    1955 June, C. L. Mowat, “The Bristol & Portishead Pier & Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 371

Origin

  1. Old Englishport“harbor”
  2. EnglishPortishead

From the genitive singular of Old English port (“harbor”), portes + hēafod (“head”), meaning "the harbor headland".

More words from Old English

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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