burrow
/ˈbʌɹoʊ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.10 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "But very soon he grew to like it, for the Boy used to talk to him, and made nice tunnels for him under the bedclothes that he said were like the burrows the real rabbits lived in."
- "Such another chapel as this, though not built upon a burrow of stones, is to be seen on Montague Hill, in Somersetshire, and dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel […]"
- "The young girl burrowed into the bed."
- "The journalist burrowed into the origins of the mayor's corruption."
Etymology
From Middle English borowe, borewe, borwȝ, burȝe, burh, burye (“refuge for an animal, lair, burrow”), apparently a variant of Middle English burgh (“fortified dwelling, stronghold, refuge”) (see borough) and thus from Old English burh, from Proto-West Germanic *burg, from Proto-Germanic *burgz (“stronghold, city”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“high”), but this sense is not known in Old English burh. Compare, however, Dutch cognate burcht, which has a similar sense. It may be related to bury (“to dig”), in which case it would be derived from Proto-Indo-European *bʰergʰ- (“to protect, defend, save, preserve”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈbʌɹoʊ/
- British English: /ˈbʌɹəʊ/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in People.