town

English

/taʊn/

noun
Definitions
  • 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.
  • Any more urbanized center than the place of reference.
  • (UK) A rural settlement in which a market was held at least once a week.
  • The residents (as opposed to gown (gown): the students, faculty, etc.) of a community which is the site of a university.
  • (colloquial) .
  • (humorous) A major city, especially one where the speaker is located.
  • (legal) A municipal organization, such as a corporation, defined by the laws of the entity of which it is a part.
  • (obsolete) An enclosure which surrounded the mere homestead or dwelling of the lord of the manor.
  • (obsolete) The whole of the land which constituted the domain.
  • (obsolete) A collection of houses enclosed by fences or walls.
  • (UK) A farm or farmstead; also, a court or farmyard.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English town inherited from Old English tūn (enclosure, homestead, town, farmstead, settlement, garden, yard) inherited from Proto-Germanic *tūną (enclosure, fence) derived from Gaulish dunum (hill, hillfort, fort) derived from Proto-Celtic *dūnom (stronghold, rampart, hill, fortified town, fortress, hillfort) derived from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (smoke, haze, raise dust, mist, come full circle, finish, fume, blow, dark, whisk, vapor, breath, gray, deep, camouflage), *dʰewh₂- (smoke, haze, raise dust, mist, come full circle, finish, fume, blow, dark, whisk, vapor, breath, gray, deep, camouflage).

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*dʰewh₂-

Gloss

smoke, haze, raise dust, mist, come full circle, finish, fume, blow, dark, whisk, vapor, breath, gray, deep, camouflage

Concept
Semantic Field

Basic actions and technology

Ontological Category

Action/Process

Kanji

暗, 闇, 冥

Emoji
🌋 🚬

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms