Burg or burgh?
burg is a noun meaning “Burgundy wine”; burgh is a noun meaning “a small mound, often used in reference to tumuli (mostly restricted to place…”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) burgh is about as common as burg.
What is the difference between burg and burgh?
| burg | burgh | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, suffix | noun, suffix |
| Meaning | Burgundy wine CanadaUSA city or town A fortified town in medieval Europe | a small mound, often used in reference to tumuli (mostly restricted to place names) UKa borough or chartered town (now only used as an official subdivision in Scotland) Place name suffix, indicating the site of a fortified place |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Forms | burgs | burghs |
| Pronunciation | /bɜːɡ/ /bɝɡ/ | /ˈbʌɹə/ /ˈbʌɹoʊ/ /bɝoʊ/ |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words | about once in every 1 million words |
Sources: burg and burgh 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 burg and burgh
burg
- 1
Burgundy wine
- 2
CanadaUSA city or town
- 3
slangClipping of burger
- 4
Synonym of -burgh
- 5
CanadaUSslangMartinsburg, West Virginia
- 6
A fortified town in medieval Europe
burgh
- 1
a small mound, often used in reference to tumuli (mostly restricted to place names)
- 2
Place name suffix, indicating the site of a fortified place
- 3
UKa borough or chartered town (now only used as an official subdivision in Scotland)
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, burg or burgh?
burg appears about once in every 2 million words; burgh about once in every 1 million words.
burg about once in every 2 million wordsburgh about once in every 1 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).