# Durham

> English word · Proper noun · IPA /ˈdʌ.ɹəm/ · frequency rank #9,883

## Definitions
1. A county in the Northeast of England; in full, County Durham.
2. A city, the county town of County Durham, England.
3. A unitary authority of County Durham, which replaced the county council in 2009 in all of County Durham except Darlington, Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees; in full, Durham County Council.
4. An English habitational surname from Old English from the city in England.
5. An outback town in Queensland, Australia.
6. A locale in Canada.
7. A locale in Canada.
8. A locale in Canada.
9. A locale in the United States.
10. A locale in the United States.
11. A locale in the United States.
12. A locale in the United States.
13. A locale in the United States.
14. A locale in the United States.
15. A locale in the United States.
16. A locale in the United States.
17. A locale in the United States.
18. A locale in the United States.
19. A locale in the United States.
20. A locale in the United States.
21. A locale in the United States.
22. A locale in the United States.
23. A locale in the United States.
24. A locale in the United States.

## Etymology
From Old English Dūnholm, meaning "hill islet". In order to get from Dunholm to Durham, two major processes had to take place. Firstly, the n at the coda of the first syllable, dun, underwent dissimilation. Specifically, by influence of the m in the coda of the following syllable (holm), said n denasalised and lenited to the oral r, thus dur. Secondly, after a weakening of the vowel quality in the more weakly-stressed syllable holm, this ending was misanalysed as the similar-sounding toponymic suffix, -ham, meaning home or farm.
Doublet of Duresm and Dunelm.

## Easily confused with
- **durian** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/durham-vs-durian)
- **dram** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dram-vs-durham)
- **dura** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dura-vs-durham)
- **dream** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dream-vs-durham)
- **Duran** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duran-vs-durham)
- **Durga** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/durga-vs-durham)
- **Dunham** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dunham-vs-durham)
- **Durban** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/durban-vs-durham)
- **Denham** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/denham-vs-durham)

## Common misspellings (9)
`ddurham`, `druham`, `duhram`, `durahm`, `durhamm`, `durhham`, `durhma`, `durrham`, `udrham`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/durham