town

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A place where people live and work, larger than a village but smaller than a city.

   She grew up in a small town by the sea.

2. 2
   noun

   The central or busy part of a town or city.

   Call me when you get to town.

3. 3
   noun

   The people who live in a town.

   The whole town cheered the team.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Town is an Old English word that first meant “an enclosed piece of ground.” It subsequently referred to a farm or estate and then to a collection of houses; by about 1150 it had developed the familiar sense of a populated settlement.

From Middle English toun, from Old English tūn (“enclosure, garden”), from Proto-West Germanic *tūn, from Proto-Germanic *tūną (“fence, enclosure”), of Celtic origin, from Proto-Celtic *dūnom, from Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- (“to finish, come full circle”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Tuun (“garden”), West Frisian tún (“enclosure, garden”), Dutch tuin (“garden”), German Low German Tuun (“fence”), German Zaun (“fence”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian tun (“yard”); also archaic Welsh din (“hill”), Irish dún (“fortress”). Doublet of dun. See also -ton and tine (“to enclose”).

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary