Borough

How to spell borough

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce borough

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does borough mean?

1. nounA self-governing town or an administrative division of a larger city.

Borough in a sentence

• The council represents every ward in the borough.

• Brooklyn is one of the five divisions, each known as a borough of New York City.

Where does borough come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word descends directly from the Old English 'burg' or 'burh', which meant a fortified place, a stronghold, or a walled town. It belongs to a wide Germanic family: the same root gives German 'Burg' (castle) and shows up in countless place names ending in '-burgh', '-bury', and '-borough', such as Edinburgh, Canterbury, and Peterborough. The original idea was protection, a defended enclosure, and the meaning gradually softened from 'fortress' to simply 'town' and then to a chartered town or an administrative district. The same root also lies behind the verb 'to borrow', because a pledge or surety once offered the same sense of security, though the words have long since drifted apart in meaning. The awkward 'ough' spelling is a frozen relic of older English pronunciation, which is exactly why modern writers reach instinctively for the simpler-looking 'burrow' and trip up.

How the word is built

• burg/burh (Old English: fortified town, stronghold) surviving as a whole word, related to 'borrow' only by coincidence

Words that sound like borough

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• burrow: A hole or tunnel dug in the ground by a small animal for shelter or habitation.