burrow

C2+ Topic:Animals

US /ˈbɜroʊ/ UK /ˈbʌrəʊ/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
an animal's underground hole; to dig or nestle into something

The rabbit vanished into its burrow at the first sign of danger.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · an animal's underground... tunnel hole den warren dig excavate delve nestle

Word family

Derived forms burrowerburrowing

Related forms borough

Simplified etymology

Burrow, recorded from Middle English, is a variant of borough and denotes an animal’s defensive place. Borough goes back to the early forms burg and burh, meaning “fortress.”

Etymology

From Middle English borow, a variant of burgh, borough ('fortified place, shelter'), from Old English burh, from Proto-Germanic *burgz ('fort'). The animal-hole sense developed from the notion of a sheltering refuge.

burh Old English *burgz Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Animals

External links

# burrow

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈbɜroʊ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈbʌrəʊ/

## Meanings
1. an animal's underground hole; to dig or nestle into something

## Examples
- The rabbit vanished into its burrow at the first sign of danger.

## Synonyms
- tunnel
- hole
- den
- warren
- dig
- excavate
- delve
- nestle

## Derived Forms
- burrower
- burrowing

## Related Forms
- borough

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: burh
- Root: *burgz

## Etymology
From Middle English borow, a variant of burgh, borough ('fortified place, shelter'), from Old English burh, from Proto-Germanic *burgz ('fort'). The animal-hole sense developed from the notion of a sheltering refuge.

## AI Etymology
Burrow comes from Middle English borow, a variant of burgh, borough ('fortified place, shelter'), from Old English burh, from Proto-Germanic *burgz ('fort'). The animal-hole sense developed from the notion of a sheltering refuge. The historical trail runs through burh in Old English and *burgz in Proto-Germanic. Used as a noun and verb, burrow now means "an animal's underground hole; to dig or nestle into something", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in derived forms such as burrower and burrowing and related forms such as borough. The word is therefore part of the inherited Germanic layer of English, even where later usage has narrowed, broadened, or specialized the sense.

## Topics
- Animals

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