burg

See also: Burg and -burg

English

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

The historical sense is from Late Latin burgus, from Frankish *burg, from Proto-Germanic *burgz (“borough, fortification”). Doublet of borough, Brough, burgh, burh, and bury. Also compare burgess.

The modern sense may have been formed in part by analogy with the many North American city names that are suffixed with -burg (a number of which in the Eastern United States once used -burgh instead. See burgh), as well as being formed in part due to German Burg.

Noun

burg (plural burgs)

1. (Canada, US) A city or town.
   • 1921, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Efficiency Expert‎, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2012:

     Tell mother that I will write her in a day or two, probably from Chicago, as I have always had an idea that that was one burg where I could make good.

   • 2009 June, David Thriault, “This Way In: The Sound and the Fury”, in Esquire, volume 151, number 6, page 6:

     Imagine my surprise when I learned that he was not only a Canadian but lived in Ottawa, that icy burg I had left so many kilometers -- sorry, miles -- behind me.

   • 2010 Feb, Paige Orloff, “Big Style on a (Little) Budget”, in Country Living, volume 33, number 2, page 84:

     It's been said that Wilder modeled that fictional setting on Peterborough, a quaint burg tucked away in New Hampshire's verdant southwestern hills.

2. (historical) A fortified town in medieval Europe.

Derived terms

• burgage
• burgish

Related terms

• burgher
• burghermaster
• burgomaster
• burgrave

Translations

fortified town in medieval Europe

French: bourg (fr) m Galician: burgo m Italian: borgo (it) m Latin: burgus m Old Portuguese: burgo m Portuguese: burgo (pt) m Spanish: burgo (es) m

Etymology 2

Noun

burg (plural burgs)

1. (slang) burger
   • 2002, Ricard Marx Weinraub, Wonder Bread Hill, page 6:

     I hate this emptiness and the redundancy of eating burgs at Burger Town.

Anagrams

• grub