How to spell borough

hear itbor·ough/'bɜroʊ/nounSilent and tricky

What it means: One of the main administrative divisions of a city.

In a sentence: Brooklyn is a famous borough of New York City.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as boro or borrough.

Same family: boroughs, neighborhood, district, municipality, parish. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Borough” comes from Old English “burg” or “burh,” meaning a fortified town or stronghold, and is related to the words “burg” in German and “burgh” in Scottish place names like Edinburgh. Over time it shifted from meaning a fortified place to a town with its own local government or parliamentary representation.

Patterns it uses: The unstressed vowel (schwa)

Try spelling it

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