Where does “suburbs” come from?
Suburbs derives from Old French suburbe, from Latin suburbium meaning "area outside a city," combining Latin sub meaning "under" or "below" with urbs meaning "city," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European wer- meaning "to turn" or "enclose."
suburbs (English): plural of suburb; The populated area surrounding...
Definitions
- plural of suburb; The populated area surrounding...
Ancestry of “suburbs”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | suburb | A residential area located on the outskirts of a... |
| 2 | Old French | suburbe | — |
| 3 | Latin | suburbium | suburb |
| 4 | Latin | urbs | a city, walled town; the City, Rome |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | worβis | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | werbʰ- | to enclose |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | werb- | to throw, twist, bend; to turn, bend, twist; to... |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | wer- | to burn; to cover, heed, notice; squirrel |