town
/ˈtaʊ̯n/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.24 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A settlement; an area with residential districts, shops and amenities, and its own local government; especially one larger than a village and smaller than a city, historically enclosed by a fence or walls, with total populations ranging from several hundred to more than a hundred thousand (as of the early 21st century)
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A rural settlement in which a market was held at least once a week.
British usage; Countable; Uncountable
noun
The residents (as opposed to gown: the students, faculty, etc.) of a community which is the site of a university.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "This town is really dangerous because these youngsters have Beretta handguns."
- "Apparently the first reference to the making of the town walls of Stafford (it appears pretty clear that the town was never surrounded by one continuous wall or stockade, but partly by one and partly by the other) occurs in the Patent Rolls, from which we find that in 1225 permission was granted by the king to the "good men of Stafford” to collect customs or tolls for a period to enable them to enclose the town."
- "Walls separated town and country through much of the early modern period. Walls not only protected towns, they also helped give them a sense of autonomy and identity."
- "Fortifications and town walls clearly highlight the central military significance of towns."
- "As towns continue to grow, replanting vegetation has become a form of urban utopia and green roofs are spreading fast. Last year 1m square metres of plant-covered roofing was built in France, as much as in the US, and 10 times more than in Germany, the pioneer in this field. In Paris 22 hectares of roof have been planted, out of a potential total of 80 hectares."
- "The medieval town, at least in continental Europe, was walled, and without its defences it was no town."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Indo-European *duh₂-nós? Proto-Celtic *dūnombor. Proto-Germanic *tūną Proto-West Germanic *tūn Old English tūn Middle English toun English town Inherited from Middle English toun, from Old English tūn, from Proto-West Germanic *tūn, from Proto-Germanic *tūną, borrowed from Proto-Celtic *dūnom (“stronghold, rampart”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *duh₂-nós (“lasting, durable”), from *dewh₂- (“to last”) + *-nós. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Tuun (“garden”), West Frisian tún (“enclosure, garden”), Dutch tuin (“garden”), German Low German Tuun (“fence”), German Zaun (“fence”), Danish tun, Swedish tun and Norwegian Nynorsk tun (“yard”); also archaic Welsh din (“hill”), Irish dún (“fortress”). Doublet of dun. See also -ton and tine (“to enclose”).
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈtaʊ̯n/
- British English: /ˈtaʊ̯n/
Usage
- Countable
- Uncountable
- British usage
- Colloquial
- Informal
- Obsolete
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Places.