Borough or burrow?
borough is a noun meaning “A town having a municipal corporation and certain traditional rights”; burrow is a noun meaning “A tunnel or hole, or a system of tunnels, often as dug by a small creature for…”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) borough is about 5.4 times as common as burrow.
What is the difference between borough and burrow?
| borough | burrow | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, suffix | noun, verb |
| Meaning | A town having a municipal corporation and certain traditional rights An administrative district in some cities, e.g., London Placename suffix, indicated site of a fortified place | A tunnel or hole, or a system of tunnels, often as dug by a small creature for use as a home To dig a tunnel or hole To move underneath or press up against in search of safety or comfort |
| Example | none recorded | The young girl burrowed into the bed |
| Forms | boroughs | burrows |
| Pronunciation | /ˈbʌ.ɹə/ /ˈbʌɹ.oʊ/ /ˈbɝ.oʊ/ | /ˈbʌɹəʊ/ /ˈbʌɹoʊ/ /ˈbɜɹoʊ/ |
| In writing | 6.8 times per million words | 1.3 times per million words |
Sources: borough and burrow in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of borough and burrow
borough
- 1
A town having a municipal corporation and certain traditional rights
- 2
Placename suffix, indicated site of a fortified place
- 3
An administrative district in some cities, e.g., London
- 4
Placename suffix, indicating a borough
- 5
USAn administrative unit of a city which, under most circumstances according to state or national law, would be considered a larger or more powerful entity
- 6
Other similar administrative units in cities and states in various parts of the world
- 7
A district in Alaska having powers similar to a county
- 8
UKAn association of men who gave pledges or sureties to the king for the good behavior of each other
burrow
- 1
A tunnel or hole, or a system of tunnels, often as dug by a small creature for use as a home
- 2
To dig a tunnel or hole
- 3
To move underneath or press up against in search of safety or comfort
The young girl burrowed into the bed
- 4
To investigate thoroughly
The journalist burrowed into the origins of the mayor's corruption
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, borough or burrow?
borough appears 6.8 times per million words; burrow 1.3 times per million words.
borough 6.8 times per million wordsburrow 1.3 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search borough vs burrow?
“borough vs burrow” is searched about 10 times a month on Bing (Google reports it together with close variants, so it has no figure of its own) in the United States.
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.