Oxford

How to spell oxford

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce oxford

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does oxford mean?

1. nounA low shoe that laces over the instep, with the eyelet tabs stitched under the front of the shoe.
2. nounA soft, durable cotton fabric with a basket weave, widely used for shirts.

Oxford in a sentence

• He polished his black leather oxford before the interview.

• The tailor recommended a button-down shirt in pale blue oxford.

• A classic brown oxford pairs well with a tailored suit.

• Oxford holds its shape well and resists creasing through a long day.

Where does oxford come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word began as a plain English place name, recorded in Old English as Oxnaford, which literally meant 'the ford of the oxen', that is, the shallow point in a river where cattle could be driven across. It was formed from oxa, the Old English word for an ox, and ford, the word for a wading place across water; both elements are native Anglo-Saxon and have changed little in over a thousand years. By the time the university grew up around the settlement in the 1100s and 1200s, the name was firmly fixed, and over the centuries it lent itself to a string of everyday products associated with the city or its style. The low laced shoe called an oxford and the smooth cotton shirting known as oxford cloth both took the name in the 1800s, and even the punctuation device, the oxford comma, borrows the city's name through its university press. Because the spelling preserves the original two parts, ox and ford, it stays regular and rarely traps writers, the only mild risk being the unstressed 'ford' ending that the ear can soften.

How the word is built

• ox (the animal)
• ford (a shallow river crossing)