Riverside

How to spell riverside

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce riverside

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does riverside mean?

1. nounThe ground or area along the bank of a river.
2. adjectiveLocated beside or facing a river.

Riverside in a sentence

• noun

  They bought a cottage on the riverside for weekend escapes.

• adjective

  They reserved a riverside table at the new restaurant.

• noun

  The festival took place along the riverside every summer.

• adjective

  The hotel charges more for its riverside rooms.

Where does riverside come from?

Language of origin: French

This is a transparent English compound, joining two very old native words. 'River' came into English in the 1200s through Anglo-French and Old French 'rivere', which traced back to the Latin 'riparia', meaning 'land along a riverbank', from 'ripa', the Latin word for 'bank' or 'shore'. 'Side' is far older and thoroughly native, descending from Old English 'side', meaning the flank of a body or the edge of something, a word shared across the Germanic languages. By the late Middle Ages writers were simply putting the two together to describe the strip of land beside a river, and the compound settled into ordinary use. Because both halves are familiar everyday words, the spelling holds no real surprises beyond remembering that it is written solid, as one word.

How the word is built

• river (a large natural stream of water)
• side (the edge or bank beside it)