Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “suburban” come from?

Suburban derives from Latin suburbanus, formed from Latin urbs meaning "city" and the suffix -anus, with urbs descending from Proto-Indo-European werb-.

suburban (English): Relating to or characteristic of or situated on...

Definitions

  1. Relating to or characteristic of or situated on...

Ancestry of “suburban”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latinsuburbanussuburban
2LatinUrbānus—
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 “suburban”

  • suburbanization
  • suburbanite
  • suburbanism
  • suburbanize
  • nonsuburban
  • unsuburban
  • presuburban
  • suburbanise
  • surburbanite
Every word from Proto-Indo-European wer- →