Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “suburb” come from?

Suburb comes from Old French suburbe, from Latin suburbium meaning "area outside the city," composed of Latin sub meaning "under" and urbs meaning "city," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European wer- meaning "to turn" or "enclose."

suburb (English): A residential area located on the outskirts of a...

Definitions

  1. A residential area located on the outskirts of a...

Ancestry of “suburb”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Frenchsuburbe—
2Latinsuburbiumsuburb
3Latinurbsa city, walled town; the City, Rome
4Proto-Italicworβis—
5Proto-Indo-Europeanwerbʰ-to enclose
6Proto-Indo-Europeanwerb-to throw, twist, bend; to turn, bend, twist; to...
7Proto-Indo-Europeanwer-to burn; to cover, heed, notice; squirrel

Words derived from “suburb”

  • suburbs
  • suburbia
  • burb
  • ethnoburb
  • suburbian
  • penturbia
  • suburbial
  • suburblike
  • 'burb
  • penturban
  • suburbed
Every word from Proto-Indo-European wer- →