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The study of place names is called toponymy; for a more detailed examination of this subject in relation to British place names, please refer to British toponymy. This article lists a number of common generic forms found in British place names, their meanings and some examples of their use.

Contents 1 Elements 2 References 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] Elements

Key to languages: Bry. Brythonic; C - Cumbric; K - Cornish; I - Irish; L - Latin; ME - Middle English; NF - Norman French; OE - Old English; ON - Old Norse; P - Pictish; SG - Scots Gaelic; W - Welsh

Term	Origin	Meaning	Example	Position	Comments
aber [1]	C, W, P, K	mouth (of a river), confluence, a meeting of waters	Aberystwyth, Aberdyfi, Aberdeen, Aberuthven	prefix	Further information: Aber and Inver as place-name elements
ac, acc, ock	OE	acorn, or oak tree	Accrington[2], Acomb, Acton, Matlock[3]
afon [1]	W, SG, K, I	river	River Avon, Glanyrafon		W afon is pronounced "AH-von"; several English rivers are named Avon. In Irish the word, spelled "abhann", is mainly (though not exclusively) pronounced OW-en
ar, ard [4]	I, SG	height	Armagh, Ardglass
ash	OE	ash tree	Ashton-under-Lyne[5]
ast	OE	east	Aston[6]	prefix
auch(en)-, ach- [4]	I, SG	field	Auchendinny, Auchenshuggle, Achnasheen	prefix	anglicised from achadh. Ach- is generally the Highland form, and Auch- the lowland. Auchen- "means field of the X" (Achadh nan X)
auchter- [4]	I, SG	height, top of something	Auchtermuchty, Auchterarder	prefix	anglicised from Uachdar
axe, exe, usk	Bry.	from isca, meaning water	Exeter, River Axe (Devon), River Exe, River Usk, Axminster.
ay, y, ey [7]	ON	island	Ramsay, Westray, Lundy[8], Orkney	suffix (usually)
bal, balla, bally, ball [4]	SG, I	farm, homestead	Ballachulish, Balerno, Ballymena, Ballinamallard	prefix	anglicised from baile
beck [7]	OE,ON	stream	Holbeck[9], Beckinsale, Troutbeck, Cod Beck
berg, berry [7]	OE/ON	hill (cf. 'iceberg')	Roseberry Topping,		In Farnborough (OE Fernaberga) [10], berg has converged toward borough
bex	OE	box, the tree	Bexley, Bexhill-on-Sea [11]		The OE name of Bexhill-on-Sea was Bexelei, a glade where box grew. [11]
blen, blaen	C, W	fell, hill, upland	Blencathra, Blencogo, Blaenau Ffestiniog
bost [7]	ON	farm	Leurbost	suffix	cf. ster, (bol)staðr; this form is usually found in the Outer Hebrides
bourne, burn	OE	brook, stream	Bournemouth, Eastbourne[12], Ashbourne, Blackburn		see also Bourne (placename)
brad	OE	broad	Bradford[13]	prefix
bre [1]	C, W, K	hill	Bredon, Carn Brea	prefix
bury, borough, brough, burgh	OE	fortified enclosure	Aylesbury, Dewsbury, Bury[14], Middlesbrough[15], Edinburgh, Bamburgh, Peterborough	(usually) suffix	See Borough for further information and other uses. Burgh is primarily Northumbrian and Scots.
by [7]	ON	settlement, village	Grimsby[16], Tenby	usually suffix but compare Bicker (the town marsh)	also survives in bylaw and by-election
carden	P	thicket	Kincardine, Cardenden	suffix
caster, chester, cester, ceter	OE (<L)	camp, fortification (of Roman origin)	Lancaster[17], Doncaster, Gloucester, Caister, Manchester, Worcester, Chester, Exeter	suffix
caer, car [1]	C, W (<L)	camp, fortification	Caerdydd, Caerleon, Carlisle[18]	prefix	derived from Brythonic "caer" cf Chester (OE.)/Castra (L.)
cheap, chipping	OE	market	Chipping Norton[19], Chipping Campden, Chepstow		also as part of a street name, e.g. Cheapside. 'Chippenham' is from a personal name.
combe	OE (<W)	valley	Woolacombe (Devon), Doccombe, Ilfracombe[20]		usually pronounced 'coo-m' or 'cum', cognate with cwm
coed [1]	W	wood, forest	Betws-y-coed
cot, cott	OE,W	cottage, small building or derived from Bry/W Coed or Coet meaning a wood	Ascot, Draycott in the Clay, Swadlincote [21]	suffix
cul	C	narrow	Culcheth[22]	prefix
cwm, cum [1]	W, C	valley	Cwmaman, Cumdivock	prefix	Borrowed into old English as suffix "coombe". 'Cwm' in Welsh and 'Cum', in Cumbric.
cum	L	with	Salcott-cum-Virley	hyphenized between two other names	Used where two parishes were combined into one. Unrelated to Cumbric cum.
dal [4]	SG, I	meadow, low lying area by river	Dalry, Dalmellington	prefix	Cognate with and probably influenced by P Dol
dale [7]	OE/ON	valley OE, allotment OE	Airedale i.e valley of the River Aire, Rochdale, Saxondale	suffix	Cognate with thal (Ger.), dalr (ON)
dean, den, don	OE - denu	valley (dene)	Croydon[23], Dean Village, Horndean, Todmorden[24]	suffix	the geography is often the only indicator as to the original root word (cf. don, a hill)
din, dinas [1]	W	fort	Dinas Powys	prefix	homologous to 'dun'; see below
don, den	OE	hill	Abingdon[25], Bredon, Willesden	suffix
drum [4]	SG, I	ridge, back	Drumchapel, Drumnacanvy, Drumnadrochit	prefix	anglicised from druim
dun, dum [4]	SG, I	fort	Dundee, Dumbarton, Dungannon	prefix	derived from dùn
ey, ea, eg, eig	OE eg	island	Romsey[26], Athelney, Ely
ey	OE haeg	enclosure	Hornsey[27], Hay (-on-Wye)		separate meaning to -ey 'island' - see above
field	OE	open land, a forest clearing	Sheffield[28], Wakefield, Huddersfield	suffix
fin	SG	white, holy	Findochty	prefix	anglicised from 'fionn'
firth	OE	wood or woodland	Holmfirth, Chapel-en-le-Frith [29]	suffix
firth [7]	ON	fjord, inlet	Burrafirth, Firth of Forth		from Norse fjorðr
ford, forth	OE	ford, crossing	Bradford, Ampleforth, Watford
fos, foss	L, OE	ditch	River Foss, Fangfoss[30]		Separate from ON 'foss, force' - see below
foss, force [7]	ON	waterfall	Aira Force, High Force		Separate from L/OE 'fos, foss' - see above
gate	ON	road	Gate Helmsley[31], Holgate
garth [7]	ON	enclosure	Aysgarth
gill, ghyll [7]	ON	ravine, narrow gully	Gillamoor, Garrigill, Dungeon Ghyll
glen [4]	SG, I	narrow valley, dale	Rutherglen, Glenarm		anglicised from gleann
ham	OE	farm, homestead, [settlement]	Rotherham[32], Newham, Nottingham[33]	suffix	often confused by hamm, an enclosure
hithe, hythe	OE	wharf, place for landing boats	Rotherhithe[34], Hythe, Erith
holm	OE	island	Holmfirth, Hempholme [35]
hope	OE	valley, enclosed area	Woolhope, Glossop [36]
hurst	OE	(wooded) hill	Dewhurst, Woodhurst [37]
ing	OE ingas	people of	Reading [38], the people (followers) of Reada, Spalding, the people of Spald[39]	suffix	sometimes survives in an apparent plural form e.g. Hastings[40]; also, often combined with 'ham' or 'ton'; 'homestead of the people of' (e.g. Birmingham, Bridlington)
ing	OE	place, small stream	Lockinge[41]	suffix	difficult to distinguish from -ingas without examination of early place-name forms.
inver [4]	SG	mouth of (a river), confluence, a meeting of waters	Inverness	prefix	cf. 'aber'. Further information: Aber and Inver as place-name elements
keld	ON	spring	Keld, Threlkeld[42]
keth, cheth	C	wood	Penketh, Culcheth[22]	suffix	cf. W. 'coed'
kil [4]	SG, I	monastic cell, old church	Kilmarnock, Killead	prefix	anglicised from Cill
kin [4]	SG, I	head	Kincardine, Kinallen	prefix	anglicised from Ceann
king	OE/ON	king, tribal leader	King's Norton, King's Lynn[43], Kingston, Kingston Bagpuize, Coningsby[44]
kirk [7]	ON	church	Kirkwall, Ormskirk, Colkirk
kyle [4]	SG	narrows	Kyle of Lochalsh	prefix	anglicised from Caol
lan, lhan, llan [1]	C, K, P, W	church, churchyard, village with church, parish	Lanteglos (Cornwall), Lhanbryde (Moray), Lanercost,	prefix	Further information: Llan place name element
lang	OE	long	Langdale[45], Great Langton, Kings Langley	prefix
law, low	OE	from hlaw, a rounded hill	Charlaw, Tow Law, Lewes, Ludlow[46]	often standalone	often a hill with a barrow or hillocks on its summit
le	NF?	the	Chester-le-Street, Hartlepool	interfix
lea, ley, leigh	OE	from leah, a woodland clearing	Barnsley[47], Hadleigh, Leigh	(usually) suffix
lin, llyn [1]	C, W	lake (or simply water)	Lindow, Lindefferon,	usually prefix
ling, lyng	OE	heather	Lingmell
magna	L	great	Appleby Magna,Chew Magna, Wigston Magna		Primarily a medieval affectation
mere	OE	lake, pool	Windermere[48], Grasmere, Cromer[49]
minster	OE	large church, monastery	Westminster, Wimborne Minster[50]
moss	OE	Swamp, bog	Mossley, Lindow Moss, Moss Side[51]
mynydd [1]	W	mountain	Mynydd Moel	prefix
nan, nans	K	valley	Nancledra (Cornwall)	prefix
nant [1]	C, W	ravine or the stream in it	Nantgarw, Nantwich	prefix	same origin as nan, nans above
ness [7]	OE, ON	promontory, headland (literally 'nose')	Sheerness, Skegness, Inverness, Furness	suffix
nor	OE	north	Norton, Norbury, Norwich [52]	prefix
pant [1]	W	a hollow	Pantmawr
parva	L	little	Appleby Parva, Wigston Parva
pen [1]	C, K, W	head (headland or hill)	Penzance, Pendle, Penrith	prefix	also Pedn in W. Cornwall
pit	P	portion, share, farm	Pitlochry (Perthshire), Pitmedden, Pittodrie	prefix	homologous with K peath
pol	C, K	pool or lake	Polperro (Cornwall), Poltragow	prefix
pont [1]	L, K, W	bridge	Pontypridd, Pontheugh	prefix	can also be found in its mutated form bont, e.g., Pen-y-bont (Bridgend); originally from Latin pons
pool	?,harbour	?	Liverpool, Blackpool, Hartlepool [53]	suffix
porth [1]	K, W	harbour	Porthcawl	prefix
shaw	OE	a wood	Penshaw, Openshaw [54]	standalone or suffix	a fringe of woodland
shep, ship	OE	sheep	Shepshed, Shepton Mallet, Shipton, North Yorkshire	prefix
stan	OE	stone, stony	Stanmore, Stamford[55], Stanlow	prefix
stead	OE	place, enclosed pasture	Hampstead, Berkhamsted [56]	suffix
ster [7]	ON	farm	Lybster, Scrabster	suffix	cf. -bost from (bol)staðr
stoke	OE stoc	dependent farmstead, secondary settlement	Stoke-on-Trent[57], Stoke Damerell, Basingstoke	(usually) standalone
stow	OE	(holy) place	Stow-on-the-wold[58], Padstow, Chepstow, Stowmarket
strath [4]	SG	wide valley, vale	Strathmore (Angus)	prefix	derived from srath (but conflated with Brythonic "Ystrad")
street	L, OE	road (Roman)	Spittal-in-the-Street, Chester-le-Street		derived from strata, L. 'paved road'
sud, sut	OE	south	Sudbury[59], Sutton	prefix
swin	OE	pigs, swine	Swindon, Swinford (Leicestershire)[60]
tarn	ON	lake			In modern English, usually a glacial lake in a coombe.
thorp, thorpe	ON	secondary settlement	Cleethorpes[61], Thorpeness		an outlier of an earlier settlement
thwaite, twatt [7]	ON thveit	a forest clearing with a dwelling, or parcel of land	Huthwaite, Twatt	suffix
tre [1]	C, K, W	settlement	Trevose Head, Tregaron, Trevercraig	prefix
tilly [4]	SG	hillock	Tillicoultry, Tillydrone	prefix
toft [7]	ON	homestead	Lowestoft	usually suffix
treath	K	beach
tun, ton	OE tun	enclosure, estate, homestead	Tunstead, Brighton[62], Coniston		OE pronunciation 'toon'. Compare en. town, nl. tuin (garden) and ger. Zaun (fence); all derived from Germanic root 'tun
weald, wold	OE	high woodland	Wealdstone, Stow-on-the-Wold[58], Southwold
wick, wich, wych, wyke	L, OE	place, settlement	Norwich, Ipswich, Alnwick	suffix	related to Latin 'vicus'(place), cf. nl. 'wijk'
wick [7]	ON vik	bay	Runswick, Wick, Lerwick	suffix	cf. Jorvik (modern York)
whel	C	mine or cave	Wheldrake
worth, worthy, wardine	OE	enclosure	Tamworth[63], Farnworth, Holsworthy, Bredwardine	usually suffix
ynys [1]	W	Island	Ynys Mon (Anglesey)

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Place name origins
• British toponymy
• Welsh placenames
• Place names in Irish
• Etymological list of counties of the United Kingdom
• English Place-Name Society
• List of places in the United Kingdom

[edit] External links

• The Scottish Place-Name Society
• An Index to the Historical Place Names of Cornwall