borough

See also: Borough and -borough

English

Alternative forms

• boro (US)
• bourg, burough, burrow (all obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English borwe, borgh, burgh, buruh, from Old English burh, burg, from Proto-West Germanic *burg, from Proto-Germanic *burgz (“stronghold, city”).

Cognate with Dutch burcht, German Burg, Danish borg, Swedish borg, French bourg, Turkish burç. Doublet of Brough, burgh, and Bury.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈbʌ.ɹə/
• (US, without the hurry–furry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈbʌɹ.oʊ/
• (US, hurry–furry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈbɝ.oʊ/

• Audio (Received Pronunciation):

  (file)

• Homophones: burgh (Received Pronunciation, Scotland), burrow (General American, Canada)
• Rhymes: -ʌɹə, -ʌɹəʊ
• Hyphenation: bo‧rough, bor‧ough

Noun

borough (plural boroughs)

1. A town having a municipal corporation and certain traditional rights.
2. An administrative district in some cities, e.g., London.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     The highway to the East Coast which ran through the borough of Ebbfield had always been a main road and even now, despite the vast garages, the pylons and the gaily painted factory glasshouses which had sprung up beside it, there still remained an occasional trace of past cultures.

3. (US, New York) An administrative unit of a city which, under most circumstances according to state or national law, would be considered a larger or more powerful entity.
4. Other similar administrative units in cities and states in various parts of the world.
5. A district in Alaska having powers similar to a county.
6. (historical, UK, law) An association of men who gave pledges or sureties to the king for the good behavior of each other.
7. (obsolete) A fortified town.
8. (rare) A town or city.

Usage notes

• In its third sense, the term is most commonly used in American English to refer to the five counties that comprise New York City.

Derived terms

• -boro
• -borough
• Borough
• Boroughbridge
• borough council
• borough English
• Borough Green
• borough hall
• boroughholder
• boroughhood
• boroughitis
• boroughmaster
• boroughmonger
• borough seat
• boroughwide
• Brookeborough
• close borough
• Conwy County Borough
• county borough
• Denali Borough
• Foxborough
• Guysborough
• interborough
• Ketchikan Gateway Borough
• Lyndeborough
• Marlborough
• Martinborough
• metropolitan borough
• Moultonborough
• multiborough
• municipal borough
• nomination borough
• Northwest Arctic Borough
• outer borough
• parliamentary borough
• Peterborough
• Petersburg Borough
• pocket borough
• rotten borough
• royal borough
• triborough
• Tyngsborough
• Woodborough

Related terms

• Brough
• burg
• burgh
• -bury

Translations

administrative district

• Bulgarian: боро n (boro)
• Catalan: districte (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鎮 / 镇 (zh) (zhèn), 區 / 区 (zh) (qū)

• Danish: borg c
• Dutch: district (nl) n bestuursdistrict n (non-Dutch-speaking countries)
• Finnish: kauppala (fi)
• Galician: concello (gl) m, municipio (gl) m
• Georgian: , რაიონი (raioni), ოლქი (olki), მხარე (mxare)
• German: Bezirk (de) m, Gemeinde (de) f, Burg (de) f

  Old High German: burg

  Rhine Franconian: Burch

• Irish: brí (ga) f
• Japanese: 区 (ja) (く, ku)
• Korean: 구(區) (ko) (gu)
• Limburgish: börch (li)
• Low German:

  German Low German: Borch f, Buorch f

• Macedonian: ре́он m (réon)
• Norwegian:

  Nynorsk: borg f

• Portuguese: município (pt) m, concelho (pt) m, distrito (pt) m
• Romanian: târg (ro)
• Russian: райо́н (ru) m (rajón)
• Scots: burgh
• Spanish: municipio (es) m
• Swahili: manispaa (sw)
• Swedish: borg (sv) c
• Welsh: bwrdeistref f

municipal borough

• Bulgarian: район (bg) m (rajon)
• Catalan: districte (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 自治市 (zh) (zìzhìshì)

• Dutch: stadsdeel (nl), deelgemeente (nl) f (Netherlands), district (nl) n (Belgium)
• Faroese: borg f
• Finnish: kauppala (fi)
• French: arrondissement (fr) m
• Galician: concello (gl) m, municipio (gl) m
• Georgian: უბანი (ka) (ubani)
• German: Stadtbezirk (de) m, Quartier (de) n, Burg (de) f, Viertel (de) n

  Rhine Franconian: Burch

• Gothic: 𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌲𐍃 f (baurgs)
• Icelandic: borg (is) f
• Irish: buirg f
• Italian: rione (it) m, borgo (it) m
• Korean: 자치구(自治區) (ko) (jachigu)
• Limburgish: börch (li)
• Low German:

  German Low German: Borch f, Buorch f

• Macedonian: о́пштина f (ópština)
• Norwegian:

  Nynorsk: borg f

• Portuguese: município (pt) m, concelho (pt) m, distrito (pt) m
• Russian: го́род (ru) (górod), ^{(please verify)} име́ющий самоуправле́ние m (iméjuščij samoupravlénije)
• Scottish Gaelic: bre m
• Spanish: municipio (es) m, concejo (es) m
• Swedish: borg (sv) c
• Welsh: bwrdeistref f

fortified town

• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: burcht (nl) c vestingstad (nl) f

  Middle Dutch: borch f

  Old Dutch: burg f

• Frisian:

  Old Frisian: burch

  West Frisian: boarch m or f

References

• borough on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “borough”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “borough”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Middle English

Verb

borough

1. (Late Middle English, Kent) alternative form of borwen