Whitby

Whit·by
W4H4I1T1B3Y4
/ˈwɪtbi//ˈʍɪtbi/

proper noun

A town, seaport, and civil parish with a town council in North Yorkshire, England, previously in Scarborough district (OS grid ref NZ8911).

OriginOld Norse hvítr býr →
Less commonScrabble 17
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Meanings

proper nounWhitby (countable and uncountable, plural Whitbys)

plural Whitbys · alternative Whidbee · alternative Whidby

  1. A placename:
    1. countableuncountableA town, seaport, and civil parish with a town council in North Yorkshire, England, previously in Scarborough district (OS grid ref NZ8911).
    2. countableuncountableA town in the Durham Region of Ontario, Canada.
    3. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community and coal town in Raleigh County, West Virginia, United States.
    4. countableuncountableA suburb of Porirua, Wellington, New Zealand.
    5. countableuncountableA suburb of Perth, Western Australia.
  2. countableA habitational surname from Old Norse.

Origin

  1. Old Norsehvítr býr“white town”
  2. EnglishWhitby

From Old Norse hvítr býr (“white town”). Equivalent to white + -by.

More words from Old Norse

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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