Neighbouring

How to spell neighbouring

12 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce neighbouring

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does neighbouring mean?

1. adjectiveSituated next to or very near to something or someone.

Neighbouring in a sentence

• The wedding spilled over into the neighbouring village hall.

• Smoke from the fire drifted into the neighbouring flats.

Where does neighbouring come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word grows from the Old English neahgebur, a compound of neah meaning 'near' and gebur meaning 'a dweller' or 'a farmer who works the land'. Put together, the original idea was simply 'someone who lives nearby', which is still exactly what a neighbour is. The noun neighbour gave rise to a verb meaning 'to lie near to' or 'to border on', and 'neighbouring' is the present participle of that verb used as an adjective for places that sit close to one another. The British and Canadian spelling keeps the French-influenced -our ending that English layered onto many such words after the Norman period, which is the trap here: the 'u' is silent yet must be written. The same gebur 'dweller' element lies buried inside the word, even though no modern speaker hears a separate 'farmer' inside 'neighbouring'.

How the word is built

• neigh- (from Old English neah: near)
• -bour (from gebur: dweller)
• -ing (adjective/participle suffix)

British and American spelling

Neighbouring is the British spelling. American English spells it neighboring.