townie
/ˈtaʊni/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.20 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A person living in a university area who is not associated with the university.
British usage; American usage
noun
A person who has moved from a town or city to a rural area. Especially, one who is perceived not to have adopted rural ways.
British usage
noun
A person familiar with the town (urbanised centre of a city) and with going out on the town; a street-wise person.
British usage
noun
A person who lives in a city or town, or has an urban outlook.
Australian usage; New Zealand usage; British usage; Informal
Example Sentences
- "Professional gamblers have a cushy racket in college football because old grads and even townies of college localities are sentimental bettors and easy to separate from their money."
- "School is an ivory tower on the hill; it nestles in the gated groves of academe. It’s residents do not mix with “townies.”"
- "In Spike Lee's movie School Daze you play a townie who's very hostile to the college students from out of town."
- "[Hamlet] was only repeating the phrase of an ordinary English rustic when jeering at a “townie”—whom he suspected of being a gutter-snipe—that “He don’t know a hawk from a hernshaw”."
- "From being a born-and-bred townie from north London, to a 36-year-old part-time farmer and full-time businessman is no mean achievement."
- "The term cockney originally meant cock’s egg or misshapen egg such as a young hen might lay, in other words a lily-livered townie as opposed to a strong countryman."
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 Proto-Germanic *-j-, *-ij- Proto-West Germanic *-i, *-ī Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English -ie English townie From town + -ie (“person associated”).
Word Breakdown
Usage
- British usage
- American usage
- Derogatory
- Australian usage
- New Zealand usage
- Informal